


How to Track a Lion

by showmeyourtardis



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, MWPP Era, Marauders' Era, Minor James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Slytherin Sirius Black, Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-04-14 14:36:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14138082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/showmeyourtardis/pseuds/showmeyourtardis
Summary: AU:Slytherin!Sirius.Sirius has never really felt like a Slytherin. Sure, he wears the colours and he cheers for the Quidditch Team, but it's never felt... right. So when Snape asks him to follow Remus, and he does, he starts to question his green-alignment a little more. It doesn't help that The Marauders have a secret, and he's determined to find it out.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, here I am again. The Maruaders stole my heart again, I already have four WIPs on the go! This is an old WIP I never finished last time I fell in love with the Marauders.  
> Enjoy it.  
> And hey, if you love the Marauders as much as me, why not read my other works while you wait for this to update?

When Lupin, Potter, and Pettigrew walked into the classroom, Sirius raised his eyebrows. They looked like hell. Potter was visibly limping and sporting a shiny black eye. Pettigrew's shirt was buttoned incorrectly, and he was wearing odd shoes. Lupin had dark shadows under his eyes, like he hadn't slept in years, and a new pink scratch had joined the white scars already on his face. All of them seemed exhausted, but oddly, they were all smiling. Maybe they'd fought a hippogriff and won.

Sirius wasn't the only one staring at the latecomers. Whispers spread through the full classroom as they walked in, but died down quickly when Professor Kovac cleared his throat. Next to Sirius, Snape scribbled down today's date. He underlined it three times, and drew a question mark next to it.

Abruptly, he looked up at Sirius and his face held that eerily determined look he usually reserved for potion making. Snape's obsession – and it was an obsession no matter what he said – with Potter and his mates had grown considerably in the past year. Sirius had noticed him recording their every move in a special journal and mumbling to himself late at night. It was unsettling. Snape had always been a creepy person, but this was a new level.

“He'll be out tonight,” Snape whispered, as Professor Kovac stood up to address the class.

Sirius barely held off his sigh as he turned to face the front. He had been dragged into Snape's obsession. He wasn't the least bit interested in those tossers from Gryffindor, if he was honest. The only one who held his interest for longer than a moment was that pretty-boy Lupin, and Sirius never let himself dwell on his existence for too long.

Snape had recruited Sirius to follow them. He'd been following them around the grounds for three weeks now, and he'd found absolutely nothing. Yeah, they pulled pranks, and yeah, they stole from the kitchens, but what fifth year didn't do that? Plus, anytime he followed them, they always managed to disappear down some corner or into some random classroom and he lost track of them. He was convinced they knew he was following them. They weren't exactly stupid.

Professor Kovac was stood next to a blackboard with the words _Shield Spell_ written on it.

He clapped his hands together once to get their attention, and said, “Today, we're practising the shield spell.”

There was an audible groan through the classroom. Kovac held up his hands with a smile, “I know, I know, it's not the most interesting spell. But it's really important, and I've seen you guys duel outside, you all need this spell.”

He waved his wand at the chalkboard and the words _Protego Duo_ began to appear, “ _Protego Duo_ is much more powerful than the simple incantation _Protego._ It can be used in a lot of situations, but typically, it's used to defend oneself and other people. Everyone into partners.”

Sirius stood up and moved to the back of the room with Snape. Kovac used his wand to move the tables and chairs out of the way, clearing the floor for their duels.

Snape leant towards Sirius, “You have to follow them tonight.”

“Follow them where?” Sirius whispered, looking at Lupin, Potter, and Pettigrew who were leaning on a bookshelf, yawning.

Lupin whispered something and his mates laughed. Potter peeled back his sleeve to show a fresh, angry looking scratch on his arm and Lupin shook his head with a roll of his eyes.

“Just trust me. You'll get a chance,” Snape said, scratching the tip of his long nose.

Sirius shrugged at those helpful words, and watched Snape narrow his eyes at Potter. Across the classroom, Potter had gotten the attention of Lily Evans, who was very obviously into his flirting but pretending so hard not to be. Snape curled his lip furiously, and Sirius scoffed.

“Pathetic,” Sirius muttered, and Snape turned his glare towards him instead.

“Just do as I say,” Snape said, petulantly.

Sirius ran a hand through his hair, wondering just how much trouble Snape's plan would cause. After years of knowing Snape, Sirius had learnt not to trust him. They weren't friends, they were allies in a war that nobody else seemed to be involved in. That didn't mean Snape wouldn't stab him in the back at the first chance, it just meant that for now, Sirius was safe with the Slytherins.

If only they knew what went through his head, maybe that would be a different story.

Sirius pulled out his wand and, on Kovac's instruction, stood opposite Snape. Glancing around, he saw Potter and Pettigrew were a pair, and Lupin and Evans were a pair. Both Potter and Snape were eyeing Lupin with barely concealed jealousy, Sirius resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

For someone who claimed pure-bloods and Slytherins were better than everyone else, Snape sure had a thing for Lily Evans. Gryffindor and a mudblood, she was everything Snape shouldn't want.

“Will you relax?” Sirius hissed to Snape, “You know Lupin's bent, he spent all of last year with Davidson's cock in his mouth.”

“Like you're one to talk,” Snape whispered with a smug grin.

“Piss off, at least Potter's brave enough to talk to her.”

“Now, class,” Kovac said, probably interrupting the string of curses Snape was about to launch in Sirius's direction. Nothing riled him up more than pointing out how much better Potter was at everything.

Kovac climbed onto one of the desks to address them all, “After bowing, I want one person to attempt to disarm the other, while the other uses _Protego Duo._ Disarm only. If I hear one curse, I will string you up by your thumbs, understood?”

Murmurs of acknowledgement went through the class. Sirius and Snape bowed to each other. Sirius mirrored Snape's stance, and aimed his wand, “I'll shield.”

Snape nodded once and took a step back. Various yells of _Protego Duo_ and _Expelliarmus_ sounded around the classroom. Red and blue spells bounced against the walls, and exploded on the ceiling. In a smooth motion, Snape swished his wand and cast a disarming spell. Sirius flicked his wands, said the spell, and created a ghostly, blue screen in front of him. The spell hit the barrier and ricocheted across the room.

“So, what's the plan?” Sirius asked, as his shield disappeared. He ducked quickly to avoid a rogue disarming charm.

Snape flicked his wand rapidly, but Sirius was ready. He lazily swished his own wand, said the words, and grinned when the shield appeared. Looking through the blue haze in front of him, Sirius saw Snape narrow his eyes. Sirius dropped his grin, knowing it would flare up Snape's short temper and, consequently, his vengeful streak.

It wasn't Sirius's fault Snape was so easy to predict. He always took a step back before casting a spell in a duel, he'd never beat Sirius. It would be when Sirius's back was turned that Snape would finally win. Sirius better stop acting so cocky, or he'd wake up covered in burns potion.

“Excellent, Sirius,” Kovac said as he walked past.

Snape frowned at Kovac, watching him inspect Lupin and Evans. Sirius glanced over just in time to see Lupin cast a perfect shield. Unlike Potions, or Care of Magical Creatures, Lupin was brilliant at Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Too distracted by Lupin, Sirius didn't hear Snape. Pain hit his shoulder as his wand was ripped from his hand. It arced into the air, spinning, and landed straight into Snape's waiting hand.

Sirius glared at him, “What the fuck?”

“I needed your wand,” Snape said, grinning with triumph.

Sirius rubbed his bruising shoulder, mentally cursing himself for beating Snape twice in a row. He was such a sore loser.

Snape rolled Sirius's wand between his fingers, inspecting it. Sirius held his hand out for his wand, but Snape didn't hand it over. Instead, he aimed it and whispered, “Stupefy.”

Sirius snapped his head to follow the red spell. His wand was shoved back into his waiting hand, just as the spell hit its target. Potter hit the ground with a thud, audible enough to make everyone turn to look. Snape snickered.

Pettigrew was looking around with panic, and both Lupin and Evans ran to Potter's side.

“Mr. Pettigrew, did you use the stunning spell?” Kovac asked, walking towards Potter.

“N-no, Sir, I swear. I was doing the p-p-pro- the shield spell,” Peter stammered.

When Lily knelt by Potter's head, Snape stopped snickering. Sirius stepped forward to get a better view. He was aware that he was holding the weapon that had knocked Potter out, but as long as Kovac didn't suspect anything, he'd never be able to guess. He couldn't check everybody's wands and all their previous spells.

“Rennervate,” Kovac said. James began to stir instantly, blinking his eyes rapidly. He groaned as he sat up, and Lily stood up quickly to pretend she hadn't been interested.

Lupin grinned at Potter, and he punched his calf, weakly, “Don't laugh, you tosser.”

Kovac faced the class, “Who did this? I need a name.”

Sirius remained silent, tucking his wand behind his ear to act nonchalant. Next to him, he saw a hand raise. Snape was smirking, holding his hand up high. Sirius shook his head quickly, but Snape ignored him.

“Yes, Mr. Snape?” Kovac asked.

Sirius almost elbowed Snape in his ribs. This was his brilliant plan? To get Sirius in detention? How did that solve anything? He couldn't follow Potter and his gang if he was in detention. This was just revenge for being better at DADA than Snape was.

“It was Sirius, Sir,” Snape said, looking at Sirius like he was an earthworm in an apple. “He said something about filthy Gryffindors, I don't really know.”

“What! No, I-”

“Mr. Black,” Kovac was no longer his happy self, he looked furious, “Was it you?”

Sirius cast a side-long look at Snape, who was pulling that stupid determined face again. Sirius sighed. If confessing to this stupid spell would get Snape off his back, it was worth it. Sirius glanced at Potter and his mates, who were now glaring at him so hard, he was sure they were trying to mentally make his head explode.

Sirius still had no idea what Snape's plan was, but he shrugged, “Yeah, it was me.”

“Why?” Kovac asked.

Again, Sirius glanced at Snape, “I... I hate Gryffindors, Sir.”

Lupin shook his head with disgust, Potter stood up and glared at Sirius, Evans looked murderous. Kovac just seemed disappointed.

“Class dismissed,” he said, “Mr. Black, my office, this evening. It's time you learnt there's more to this school than it's houses.”

“Yes, uh, Sir,” Sirius said, swinging his bag over his shoulder.

Snape had already left the classroom. He was grinning when Sirius found him in the corridor. They walked down the corridor, dodging a group of third year girls who giggled when Sirius looked at them. Snape elbowed a first year boy out of his way, still beaming about his plan.

“What the hell was that?” Sirius snapped.

“Just go to detention, you'll see what I mean.”

Sirius kept following Snape, quietly seething to himself. They rounded the corner, and after Snape hexed a few first years out of their way, entered the Great Hall. Sirius didn't speak to Snape for the rest of the meal, choosing instead to pretend he didn't exist. Snape wasn't bothered, after all, his plan was going to work out just fine.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Sirius slammed the door to Kovac's office, forgetting about Kovac still inside. He rubbed his aching wrist, mentally cursing Snape and all his future children. He hooked his quill behind his ear. He needed a new one now, since two hours of writing the words _our houses do not define us_ had broken the nib.

He spun his hand around, listening to his wrist crack loudly, and set off back to the Slytherin dorms. He would kill Snape for this. Two hours of writing. Two hours of watching the clock tick and wearing down the point of his quill. Oh yes, Snape would pay for this. He would hex Snape with boils, or an even larger nose, or...

Sirius grinned, he knew what he'd do. A simple colour change spell, and all of Snape's clothes would be Gryffindor colours. It was perfect. Sirius felt lighter as he walked down the corridor, picturing the anger on Snape's face was like therapy.

The corridor was empty and silent, and Sirius started grumbling to himself, “He'll pay for this, I'll change everything he owns to red and gold. I might even kiss Evans, that'll shut him up-”

“You know, talking to yourself is a sign of madness,” drawled a portrait to Sirius's left.

The young man in the frame had dark skin, darker eyes, and old-style Gryffindor robes on. They had frills and everything. Sirius smirked.

The man continued, “Glad to see the Slytherins are still as mad as ever.”

“Shut up,” Sirius snapped.

“And as witty as ever,” the portrait mocked. He shifted his robes slightly, and glanced to the side of his frame. He looked back at Sirius, “I will give you some advice though, if you'll accept it.”

“Why would I?” Sirius narrowed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. He looked down his nose at the portrait, which was difficult to do given that the portrait was a good few metres above him.

The portrait shrugged, “Listen or don't listen, I don't care, but I'll tell you anyway. There's a prefect coming around that corner in three... two... one!”

As soon as the word left the man's mouth, Lupin rounded the corner. He was so busy rummaging in his bag, he didn't see Sirius staring at him. The portrait cleared his throat, and Sirius snapped into action, leaping into one of the alcoves. He peered out from behind a statue of a knight.

Snape had been right, that bastard. He had known one of them would be out tonight, which is why he'd set up this detention. He could have just told Sirius to be here at this time, instead of giving him detention. At least Sirius could prove Snape was mad by following Lupin and finding nothing interesting at all.

Lupin's footsteps got louder as he got closer, Sirius could hear him mumbling something. He ducked behind the statue when Lupin passed, and caught a few snippets of his mumbling.

“You go, Remus,” Lupin mumbled, “It was your time of the month yesterday, you owe us. Just do it, Moony, you won't get in trouble...”

Sirius stepped out from behind the statue when Lupin's words began to fade. After a quick nod of thank you to the portrait, who nodded back to him, Sirius followed Lupin. He ducked into every available alcove in case he turned around. After what happened in DADA, Lupin would probably jump at the chance to give Sirius another detention – or hex him back.

They walked for a few more minutes, with Lupin's ranting fading in and out of Sirius's earshot. Sirius wasn't convinced this would lead anywhere. It hadn't the last few times he'd followed Potter, Pettigrew, or Lupin.

It never would, because Snape was a crazy person with an obsession.

But, if Sirius followed Lupin and found nothing, he could rub it in Snape's long nose. And then cast the colour changing charm, he wasn't going to let that go.

Suddenly, Lupin stopped, Sirius ducked into an alcove. He peered out, hopefully unseen, and watched Lupin backtrack a few steps. He faced one of the alcoves, and Sirius felt his heartbeat pick up. Lupin knew he was being followed. Sirius ducked further into the alcove, listening intently in case Lupin started heading this way.

But his footsteps had stopped. His continuous mumbling was the only sound, “Oh and Moony, don't forget – _Dissendium –_ the firewhisky, Moony.”

Lupin's voice was suddenly smothered by the sound of rock grinding against rock. Sirius clenched his teeth, covered his ears with his hands. He had no idea what was making that horrific sound, but he knew he couldn't look. He'd get caught if he looked.

Finally, after Sirius had turned deaf, the sound stopped, and Lupin's voice was audible again, “You always forget the-”

Lupin didn't finish his sentence. There was a short silence, followed by the sound of the rock again. Sirius grimaced. He waited for the sound to stop, and dropped his hands from his ears again. Lupin's voice was gone. He waited, counted to one hundred, and risked a glance.

Lupin was gone.

“What the fuck?” Sirius whispered.

“Language,” an old portrait scolded.

Sirius ignored them, and jogged to the alcove Lupin had looked at. A witch, with a humpback and a staff, stared out at him. There was nothing particularly interesting about this statue, except how ugly it was. Sirius was convinced it had something to do with Lupin's disappearance though. He'd been here only seconds ago, and then that sound had taken him away.

Maybe this explained how Lupin and friends always disappeared when Sirius was following them.

Sirius ran his fingers along the stone wall, feeling each brick. Maybe it was like Diagon Alley. He tapped a few bricks at random, before abandoning that idea. If that was the case, he'd never guess the combination tonight. His only option would be to follow Lupin again, and he wasn't in the mood for that.

Sirius ran his fingers over the ugly witch. Just as his fingers curved over her hump, he froze. There was a breeze on his fingers. He pulled his hand away slowly, and waved it next to the hump, feeling the cold air on his palm.

“Son of a bitch,” Sirius muttered. He dug the tips of his fingers into the edge of the hump, where the breeze was coming from. No matter how hard he tried though, he couldn't pry it away.

He was convinced Lupin had gone into a secret passage that lay inside this statue, he just had to find out how. Maybe it was like the dorms, and it needed a password. He recounted everything Lupin had said. There had been a lot of nonsense words. His only option was to try them all.

He tapped his wand against the statue, “Moony.”

Nothing happened. He tried again, but still the statue didn't move. No rock noise started.

He thought back to what Lupin had said, and tapped the witch again, “ _Dissendium._ ”

The hump began to slide away, and Sirius almost shouted with joy. A tunnel stretched down from the witch's hump into complete darkness. Sirius grinned gleefully, he could now get even more revenge on Snape. He had found Lupin's secret, and he wasn't going to tell him.

Taking a deep breath, Sirius clambered into the hump and slid down. The slide was only short, and Sirius landed with a thud, bruising his backside.

He clambered up, dusted himself off, and whispered, “Lumos.”

Sirius ran his hand through his hair, held his wand up, and followed the curving tunnel. He was going to find out Lupin's secret, and he was going to lord his knowledge over Snape so badly. That would teach him to curse him when his back was turned and get him detention.

It was wet and humid in the tunnel, the breeze Sirius had felt at the statue was practically non-existent down here. After just five minutes of walking, his hair was stuck to his forehead and sweat dripped down his neck. He lowered his wand, and the light clicked off. He was just about to turn back and wait by the tunnel, when he heard footsteps.

“ _Expelliarmus,”_ Sirius whispered.

There was a flash of light and the distant sound of something crashing to the ground.

Seconds later, Lupin whispered, “What the fuck?”

Sirius ran towards his voice, and lit up his wand. He found Lupin on his knees, gathering up several boxes. Lupin stood up quickly and wiped his knees. Sirius kicked the lid off the nearest box, revealing stock from Honeydukes.

Sirius grinned down at his shocked face, “Stealing from Honeydukes, huh?”

“What are you doing here?” Lupin asked, squinting against the wandlight.

“Following you. Did you forget the firewhisky?” Sirius laughed. Oh, he was going to have a field day with this. He could lord this over Snape and over Lupin and friends.

“Following me?” Lupin didn't seem concerned to see Sirius down here. He put the lid back on the box, and piled them up ready to be levitated, “Why are you following me?”

“Snape thinks you're hiding something. He's right, I guess,” Sirius shrugged.

“He thinks I'm hiding something?”

Under the bright light of Sirius's wand, Lupin paled. He levitated the boxes quickly, and shoved past Sirius. Lowering his wand slightly, Sirius jogged to catch up. Lupin looked like he was going to be sick.

“What's the big deal? So, he knows you're stealing from Honeydukes, so what?” Sirius asked. Lupin didn't respond, and Sirius watched him, “Unless... that's not all you're hiding.”

When Lupin didn't reply, Sirius said, “You have a different secret, don't you?”

“Shut up,” Lupin snapped.

“Witty as ever,” Sirius responded. Sirius spun his wand through his fingers, sending the light spiralling around the tunnel sickeningly, “So, time of the month. Do you have a period or something?”

“How about we walk in silence, and I'll help you get out of here?” Lupin glanced at Sirius, his face was tight and concerned.

“I don't need your help.”

“Really?” Lupin said, slowing to a halt just below the tunnel entrance. “Then tell me, how do you plan on getting out?”

Sirius looked around. The only exit was the slide he'd fallen through, and judging by the smug look on Lupin's face, Sirius wouldn't get out without his help. He didn't care. He was a Slytherin, and he didn't need help from Gryffindors, not now, not ever. He said as much.

“Well, Kovac's detention clearly didn't work.”

Lupin shrugged, lowering the boxes to the ground. He sat down on them and rested his elbows on his knees. “When James and Peter come to help me out, I'll be sure to tell them to leave you here.”

“Good...” Sirius said, realising his mistake.


	3. Chapter 3

In the light from Sirius's wand, Lupin's scars glowed, and Sirius found himself unable to look away. He was leaning against a wall, watching Lupin, who was watching the wall. Lupin drummed his fingers against one of the boxes beneath him, filling the silence. Neither one had said anything in the past ten minutes.

Sirius looked away, and stared at the wall too. He couldn't look at Lupin, because it made him feel too good. He shouldn't enjoy looking at Lupin, or at anyone in a red tie. Not only would a crush on Lupin ruin his friendship with Snape (and consequently, every other Slytherin) but it would make his mum disown him.

She was not fond of boys like Remus Lupin.

Just before Sirius was about to blind himself to stop looking at Lupin's face, the horrible sound of grinding rock echoed down to them. Lupin's rescue party had arrived, which meant Sirius was free from his annoyingly attractive presence. Sure, he would be trapped down here, but at least he wouldn't be tempting fate.

Lupin stood up, looking relieved, and waved to his friends.

“Come on, Moony, before we grow old,” Potter's voice echoed down the slide.

“Moony?” Sirius asked, “ _You're_ Moony?”

“Shut up,” Lupin said, pushing the boxes to the bottom of the slide. He stepped away when the first box floated up the slide.

Sirius watched with a dawning realisation. That was how Lupin would get out of the tunnel. Potter and Pettigrew would levitate him up. Sirius had to admit it was a clever idea, but he'd never say so out loud. The second box followed the first, followed by the final box.

“Moony, you're go, hope you've not even all the chocolate,” Pettigrew called down.

“We have a problem down here, actually,” Lupin said, throwing an annoyed glance at Sirius.

“Did you forget the firewhisky again?” Potter asked with exasperation, “Remus, I swear to Merlin, you are useless.”

“Not that kind of problem, Prongs!” Lupin snapped, his voice echoing slightly. He glared up the tunnel, “And if I'm so bloody useless, you can get it yourself next time!”

“What's the problem?” Pettigrew interrupted whatever Potter had been about to say.

Sirius took this as his cue. He shoved Lupin out the way and waved up at Potter and Pettigrew. They both squinted into the darkness. Once they recognised him, they froze, Sirius grinned.

Potter shoved his glasses further up his nose, “Did the map not tell you he was there?”

Sirius wrinkled his brow at this question, but Lupin knew what it meant.

He pushed past Sirius to see his friends, “Forgot it, thought it was in my bag.”

“Merlin's sweaty balls,” Potter sighed, disappearing from the tunnel entrance. Pettigrew followed Potter, and audible whispering echoed down the slide.

They reappeared a few moments later, and Lupin's feet lifted off the floor. He began to float up the slide, much less gracefully than the boxes had. Sirius watched as he got higher and higher, before being pulled out of the tunnel by his friends. When Lupin was once again on solid ground, the three of them peered down the tunnel at Sirius. He suddenly felt like some kind of failed potion experiment, a dirty thing at the bottom of their cauldron.

In unison, they all shared one final look, before walking away, disappearing from view.

“HEY!” Sirius shouted, sudden panic grabbed his chest. “You can't leave me here!”

“I thought you didn't want help from Gryffindors,” Lupin said, reappearing at the top of the tunnel.

He hadn't gone far, and he was grinning down at Sirius. That had been a cruel trick to see his frightened reaction. Sirius would have been mad if he hadn't been so helpless.

“Yeah, well, I... I changed my mind. Help me up,” Sirius said.

“Nope.” Potter appeared next to Lupin. Unlike his friend, he was not smiling. “Have a nice life. Come on, Moony.”

Potter walked off again. This time, Lupin didn't move. He rested his forearms on the statue, hanging his hands over the edge so the tunnel didn't close on Sirius. He looked over his shoulder, and said something that Sirius couldn't hear. Potter's voice mumbled something back.

Sirius titled his head to hear their whispering better, but he couldn't make out any words. He could hear their voices, tell who was talking, but not what was being said.

Suddenly, Lupin snapped, “We are not leaving him!”

Sirius perked up. Maybe he wasn't doomed to tunnel life forever.

Potter walked to Lupin, and waved a hand in front of his face, “Have you lost your mind?”

Lupin smacked Potter's hand away, but Potter continued his rant, “Here, let me explain this to you. He-” he pointed down at Sirius, “is a Slytherin, and we-” he gestured to himself, Lupin, and Pettigrew, “are Gryffindors. We don't help each other. We hex each other when we're defenceless, isn't that right?”

“Yeah... about that...” Sirius had enough sense to look apologetic, “That was Snape.”

“Nice try,” Potter said.

“No, really. But it wouldn't matter, would it?”

“Nope.” Potter disappeared again.

Sirius could hear the sound of boxes scraping across the floor, his heart shot into high gear. It was only Lupin's hands preventing the tunnel from closing. If he gave up fighting his friends, Sirius would be stuck down here for who knows how long? He would have to walk to Honeydukes and walk back to Hogwarts from Hogsmeade. He would be in so much trouble.

“We're not leaving him,” Lupin said, loud enough for Sirius to hear.

“I'm ignoring you,” Potter said.

“We have to hurry,” Pettigrew added in a frantic voice.

“Don't make me use the Prefect card.”

“You wouldn't dare. You're the one who stole from Honeydukes!” Potter said, beginning to sound angry now.

“Yeah, but I'm a Prefect so...”

“You're the one who broke the rules!”

“Yeah, but I'm a Prefect so...”

“Why do you care?” Pettigrew asked.

“I don't care-”

“Good, then let's go,” Potter interrupted.

“No, I don't care about him, but I do care about this tunnel. If we leave him down here, someone will find him, and they'll seal off this tunnel,” Lupin said, “Which means no more chocolate frogs, no more sugar quills, and definitely no more firewhisky.”

There was a tense silence. Sirius waited impatiently to find out their verdict. They had been bickering for almost five minutes now, and he was starting to get bored. Life in the tunnel sounded better than listening to this lot bicker.

He stood on his tiptoes and said, “Sorry to interrupt, but is anyone planning on helping me out?”

“Shut up,” they said simultaneously.

Sirius rocked back onto his heels and waited. Despite breaking their momentary silence, the three of them were still locked in a stalemate. Lupin had a point – no tunnel, no free snacks – but so did Potter – Gryffindors don't help Slytherins. One of them had to compromise, and Sirius was almost interested in finding out.

Someone sighed loudly, and a box landed with a thud.

“Fine, fine, _Merlin!_ But you can't use the Prefect card on us for an entire month!” Potter grumbled. Lupin muttered in agreement, as he reappeared next to him.

Potter pointed his wand down at Sirius, Lupin followed. Sirius was suddenly face to face with two enemy wands, and wishing that he hadn't been such an arse earlier. They could do anything they wanted to him right now. They could turn him into a frog and then levitate him, it would surely be easier.

“One, two, three,” Potter said in a clipped voice.

Sirius suddenly felt very light, as he was lifted through the air. He had never been levitated before, and it was weird. It was strangely freeing not weighing anything.

As he floated upwards, he saw Potter and Lupin glance at each other. They nodded in unison and dropped their wands. There was a split-second of stomach flipping terror as the feather-light feeling fell away, and Sirius began to fall. Before he fell more than an inch, however, Lupin and Potter had leant into the tunnel to catch him.

Sirius hoped his fear hadn't shown on his face. He was yanked upwards rather roughly. Instead of helping him out of the tunnel, they stopped when his hands were at the edge. They helped him get a grip on the stone entrance, before letting go. His arms strained immediately, as he was forced to hold himself up.

“Hey!” Sirius shouted.

“You're still a Slytherin,” Potter said.

“You can't leave me here,” Sirius said. The rough stone dug into the pads of his fingers, and his legs kicked out uselessly.

“We got you this far, let's see some of that Slytherin ambition,” Lupin teased, picking up the final box, and following his friends down the corridor.

“I hate you guys,” Sirius muttered, wishing he'd spent more time working out.

He kicked his legs some more, desperately trying to find a foothold of some kind. He bent his elbows, strained to pull himself upwards. Through sheer luck alone, he managed to get a grip on the stone slide with his trainers. It helped him enough to throw an arm up and over the edge of the statue, ignoring the fresh graze across his forearm.

He strained and kicked and gasped, and finally, he was birthed from the statue, in what was probably the most humiliating moment of his life. Thankfully, there was nobody there to see him. He sat on the floor, panting to catch his breath, as the statue finally closed with that horrid grinding sound.

Sirius wasn't entirely sure what had just happened. Three people that supposedly hated him, had just helped him out of a very sticky situation. Worse than that, it was a situation he'd gotten in by trying to hurt them. He shook his head, he didn't understand it. If the roles had been reversed, would he have helped them out of the tunnel?

He knew Snape wouldn't have.

But Sirius honestly didn't know if he would have. Did that make him a bad Slytherin? Or a good Gryffindor?

He shoved himself up from the stone, and grabbed his _green_ tie. He didn't care about Gryffindor or sorting hats or his own treacherous thoughts. He was a Slytherin, through and through, like the hundreds of Slytherins in his family. It didn't matter that they had helped him.

It didn't.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius has no sense of self preservation, but we already knew that, right?

Sirius spent the whole night thinking about Moony, Prongs, the mysterious map, firewhisky, and secrets. He didn't unravel a single thread of this mystery, and when the sun finally rose, he felt exhausted. He yawned over breakfast, nodding along when Snape asked him how his detention went. He didn't mention Lupin, or his friends, or the secret tunnel they had.

Divination passed without incident, Snape struck up a conversation about Legilimency preventing him from asking any more questions about last night. Sirius focused on his tea leaves, pretending to be interested when he was told they resembled a broom, and that meant great change in his life.

During Potions, Sirius didn't look up when Lupin's cauldron overflowed, nor when a small fire started on his table. He kept his head down, and thought of crazy nicknames, and why Remus Lupin was called Moony. He did not think of his arse, or how cute he looked when he stared at his Potions book, perplexed.

At lunch, Snape snapped.

“Tell me what happened!” he ordered, making the conversations at the Slytherin table stop.

Sirius looked up from his pumpkin pie, he'd been carving the word Prongs in it without realising. He shoved his fork into the pie, cutting the word in half, and ate a bite.

“What are you talking about?” Sirius mumbled.

Snape banged his fist against the table, “You're hiding something, Black.”

"What would I hide from you?” Sirius asked, still not looking up.

He knew Snape had a temper, but he wasn't afraid of it. He was too lost in his thoughts. He was wondering why the Sorting Hat had promised him a great future in Gryffindor, but not in Slytherin.

Snape lowered his voice and leaned across the table, “You saw them, didn't you?”

Sirius shrugged. He didn't want to talk about it. He didn't know why exactly, he just knew he didn't want Snape to find out about the tunnel. He felt no loyalty to Lupin and his friends, but he realised he felt no loyalty to Snape either. Maybe he was still pissed about the detention thing, or maybe Lupin had hit him with a love spell without him noticing.

“What's going on?” Regulus Black sat down by Snape, glancing nervously between them.

Regulus looked a lot like Sirius. He had the same black hair and pale skin, but he was smaller and slighter. He didn't have Sirius's broad shoulders. He also didn't have Sirius's weakness for Gryffindors, apparently.

“Sirius is hiding something,” Snape growled.

“I'm not hiding anything, Snape!” Sirius snapped now, finally growing tired of Snape's bullshit. “You're obsessed! You need to get a life, and stop fawning over Potter like every other person in this damn school.”

It was the wrong thing to say, Snape's face darkened. Sirius had spoken so loudly, he'd started to get attention from the other tables. He had fucked up now. Snape stood up, and Sirius copied him. Unless Snape relaxed, Sirius was going to be in a world of pain.

And yeah, he could apologise.

Or he could tell Snape exactly where to go.

“You're more obsessed with him than you are with Evans. It's pathetic.” Sirius knew he should stop, but he couldn't. Pent up rage he didn't know he had was suddenly brimming to the surface, “I'm sick of it, I'm tired of doing your bidding. If you want to wank over Potter and his mates just do it in the privacy of your own-”

Sirius was cut off by his own scream of pain. He collapsed forward, his hand landing in his pumpkin pie as pain ripped through his chest. Snape's wand was aimed directly at Sirius's heart, that bastard had cursed him. Sirius wasn't even surprised he was just in pain.

Still, he had no sense of self-preservation, “Evans will never love you, Snape. You're just a filthy Slytherin, and she knows she's too good for you.”

An audible crack sounded around the Great Hall, as Snape snapped two of Sirius's ribs. Sirius gasped, sank to his knees. Around him people were suddenly shouting, suddenly running around. Through blurry eyes, he saw Snape and Regulus run off, as the Professors finally got involved.

Sirius sank to the floor, his ribs had snapped, his chest was on fire. He didn't regret a moment of what had happened. He'd been meaning to stand up to Snape since first year, and it had only taken one helpful Gryffindor and his two mates to get him to do it.

Sirius only realised he'd blacked out when he woke up, facing the enchanted ceiling. He groaned when he breathed, pinpricks of pain stamped on his chest, like an imp was learning to tap-dance there. He tried to move, to sit up, crying out as he did.

When he was upright, and his ribs were splintering into his heart, he caught sight of Dumbledore and Lupin talking close by. They both cast a quick glance at him, before Lupin nodded to Dumbledore and walked over. Sirius must have been in more pain than he thought, because Lupin seemed to blink in and out of existence. Until finally, he crouched in front of Sirius.

“You're not very smart, are you?” he asked.

“What?”

“Never mind, come on, you need to go to the Hospital Wing,” Lupin knelt forward, and tried to pull Sirius up.

Sirius yanked backwards, regretting it instantly as his pain increased. He glared at Lupin through teary eyes, “Don't touch me.”

Lupin sat back on his heels. In a low, dangerous voice, he said, “I don't care about your bloody house, or your fucking heritage, Black. I'm not leaving you here with broken ribs, now either stand up, or I'll drag you to your feet.”

“I can't. I can't go,” Sirius whined.

“You're such a baby.”

Lupin managed to pull Sirius's arm around his shoulder and lift him upwards. He began to pull Sirius out of the Great Hall, stopping every few steps to let Sirius catch his breath. Sirius ignored everyone staring at him.

“He broke... my ribs,” Sirius said, between painful intakes of breath.

“You urged him on,” Lupin was smiling. Sirius didn't find any of this funny.

“Why are... you... helping me?” Sirius asked.

“I keep asking myself that question,” Lupin muttered, “Haven't got an answer yet, but you'll be the first to know when I do.”

They shuffled to the Hospital Wing at an incredibly slow pace. No one offered them help, not even the Professors. Sirius assumed it was because he deserved it. He deserved this treatment because he was weak, he was a bad Slytherin. He was supposed to be a Gryffindor. The hat had said so.

 _You'll make great friends in Gryffindor,_ it had said. But Sirius had refused to listen.

Only Lupin was dumb enough to help him, knowing full well it put a target on his back. He was going to have every one of Snape's cronies after him now. And all because Sirius couldn't keep it in his pants.

They reached the Hospital Wing. Sirius felt like entire days had passed since they'd been in the Great Hall. He was suddenly so very tired. Lupin was the only thing holding him up, without him, he would be crumpled on the ground.

Sirius blacked out, and woke up moments later, in a bed under a scratchy blanket. Lupin must have left already, because Sirius could only see Madam Pomfrey as she clucked disapprovingly at him. She ran her hands down his ribs and he gasped.

“Oh, sorry dear.” She looked at him apologetically.

After a few more checks, which Sirius only half registered, she puttered off to mix him a potion. While she was gone, Sirius lay stock still. He no longer had the energy to move, he just lay perfectly still, careful not to jostle his rib. A chair scraped across the floor, and Sirius jumped. He hissed at the sudden pain, and turned to find Lupin sat by his bedside.

He smiled, “It's weird not being the patient.”

Sirius didn't know what that meant. He didn't ask. He had too many mysteries in his head right now.

Pomfrey reappeared carrying three potions. She didn't make Sirius sit up, instead, she told him to relax as she helped him drink all three of the potions. By the time he was done, he felt comfortable and sleepy... so sleepy...

Moving for the first time without pain, Sirius settled back on his pillow. He angled to look at Lupin, who was looking back at him. The two stared at each other for a long moment. Sirius's eyes were barely focused, and Lupin was holding off a laugh.

“Feeling better?” He asked, already knowing the answer.

“Mhm,” Sirius hummed in affirmation. The humming made his lips tingle, and he laughed softly at the feeling. Lupin titled his head, and smiled. Sirius thought Lupin had a nice smile, full of shiny, white teeth. He let his eyes drift closed.

When he reopened them, Lupin was still in the same chair, looking at him with the same barely-concealed amusement.

“You can sleep if you want,” Lupin said, “I'll go.”

He stood to leave, but Sirius's words stopped him, “I was supposed to be Gryffindor.”

His words blurred together, but the look of shock of Lupin's face told Sirius that he had heard and understood him. Lupin sank back into his chair. He looked at Sirius for an unbearably long time, before he finally spoke again.

“What?” He asked.

“The hat,” Sirius said simply. The potions had left a funny taste in his mouth, he smacked his lips together.

Lupin stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate. When he didn't say anything, he leaned forward in his chair and said, “The sorting hat?”

Sirius nodded, brushing his hair against his pillow. It felt funny, so he did it again. Everything felt funny now. Everything felt soft too. He was growing sleepier now, the edges of his vision were blurring. He was no longer sure what was real or what was his dream. He let his eyes drift closed.

“Sirius, Sirius, wait. What did the hat say?” Lupin asked, his voice sounded very far away.

Sirius understood the question, but it took an awfully long time for his mouth to speak the words in his head. When he finally got them out, all he said was, “Great friends in Gryffindor.”

Then the potions took him, and he fell into a long sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius and Remus break the rules

Sirius dreamt he was being sorted again. Only this time, he wasn't a first year, he was a fifth year. And he was the only one being sorted. He waited at the front of the Great Hall, in a non-existent queue, for McGonagall to call his name. When she did, every student in the Great Hall turned in unison to look at him, like dummies controlled by the same hand.

His legs walked up the stage without his agreement, he tried to run but his legs kept walking, slowly, steadily. The students followed him with their too-wide eyes, watching his forced approach. He sat on the lone stool in the centre of the stage, his heart hammering in his chest. The hat was placed on his head, pressing his hair into his sweaty forehead.

“Ah, Mr. Black,” the hat said, “It's not often I get to sit on a student's head twice, and especially not five years after I sorted them.”

Sirius hadn't meant to ask any questions, but when the hat was on him, he couldn't keep one in, “Am I a Gryffindor?”

“You are a Slytherin. Or have you forgotten?” the hat laughed.

In response to the hat's words, the Slytherin table glowed brightly, like a fire had started up across the table. The students there clapped and shouted but they were muted, someone had cast a _silencio_ charm on them. Sirius stared at these unfamiliar, almost-monstrous dummies waiting for him to join them.

“Should I have been a Gryffindor?” Sirius pressed.

“Should have, would have, could have been a Gryffindor,” the hat said, unhelpfully.

Potter was suddenly in front of Sirius on the stage. It wasn't a clean entrance, but Sirius's sleeping mind didn't question his arrival. In fact, it made perfect sense. Of course, Potter would join him on stage, who else would?

He hooked his wand behind his ear and smiled. It wasn't the cheek-splitting grin of the dummies behind him, it was warm and genuine. There was no way it was aimed at Sirius. He turned in the stool to see who Potter was smiling at, but the Professors table was empty.

“Come on,” Potter said, making Sirius turn back to face him, “We need to go to Hogsmeade.”

Potter offered his hand to Sirius, and Sirius moved to take it. Just before he did, the hat sang in his head, “What I said still stands, you'll make great friends in Gryffindor.”

Sirius woke up feeling groggy, like he had a hangover but without the fun of getting drunk. His face was pressed into his pillow, a line of drool was crusted to the corner of his mouth. He was still facing the guest chair by his bedside, but Lupin was no longer there. Instead, Regulus smiled down at Sirius when he saw his eyes were open.

Fear sent a cold wave down Sirius's spine, but Regulus didn't look like he was here for revenge. He stood up, and poured water from the jug by Sirius's bed and offered him the cup. Sirius struggled to sit up, but felt no pain from his broken ribs. He sipped at the water, easing the sand-paper texture of his tongue.

“Come on then,” Regulus said, “We need to get to Hogsmeade.”

An image of Potter flashed into Sirius's head, but he shoved it away. He blinked a few times shaking the dream from his head, and swung his legs over the side of his bed.

Rubbing his hands over his face, he asked, “What?”

"Snape won't wait forever,” Regulus said.

“Snape?”

Regulus frowned slightly, but helped Sirius to his feet. “You said some things you didn't mean, and he reacted. But it's done now, it's square okay?”

Sirius didn't feel square. He felt very uneven. Snape had gotten hurt feelings, and Sirius had broken two ribs. But he didn't have the energy to argue as Regulus pulled him towards the exit. He didn't have the mindfulness to point out that Snape had been worse, he had hurt Sirius more.

Pomfrey stopped them at the door, and held out a fizzing, purple potion. Sirius accepted it, and she pinned him with a disapproving look until he drank it all down in one go. It fizzed all the way own to his belly, and almost instantly, he perked up. Energy seemed to pour back through his muscles, making him ready to run a marathon.

“No more duelling outside of class, understood?” Pomfrey asked.

Sirius hummed in response, and followed Regulus out of the Hospital Wing. On the way down the staircase, Reg talked about how sorry Snape was, and how much he regretted hurting Sirius. Maybe Reg believed Snape's lies, but Sirius wouldn’t believe it until he saw it.

Sirius stopped when he saw Lupin walking up the stairs. The two caught sight of each other at almost the same moment, and Sirius's heart froze in his chest. He had said something to Lupin last night... he was embarrassed about it. His mind didn't offer him any explanation, so Sirius assumed the worst. He'd confessed his crush.

Sirius dropped Lupin's gaze quickly, and hurried to follow Reg down the stairs. Lupin waited for them to approach, neatening his shirt with one hand.

“You're up,” he said, when Sirius passed.

“Piss off,” Regulus spat before Sirius could even look over at Lupin.

Sirius kept his gaze focused on the floor as he walked. He couldn't bring himself to look back at Lupin. He hoped he'd never see that face ever again. If it weren't for him and his mates, none of this mess would have happened. He would still be the good Slytherin boy he'd always been, and Snape wouldn't be seeking revenge.

If Sirius kept his head down long enough, he could graduate – as a Slytherin – without any more serious injuries.

* * * 

Sirius had planned to keep his head down, he really had. So when Snape and Regulus had decided to pick on some younger Hufflepuff students, he'd crept off to smoke round the back of Honeydukes. Usually, no one came down here, preferring to enter the actual shop.

Apparently, Lupin didn't like following the rules.

When Sirius walked around the corner of the building, he sighed, “Oh for Merlin's sake, are you following me?”

“I believe you're the one following me,” Lupin said.

“I don't do that anym- WHAT! Hey!” Sirius exclaimed when Lupin took the cigarette out of his hand.

“Smoking's bad for you,” he shrugged, still holding Sirius's lit cig.

“So is taking my stuff!”

Lupin brought Sirius's cig to his lips and took a long drag. Sirius's eyes widened at the sight. Good boy Lupin was a smoker? He hadn't seen that coming. He hated the way it made his stomach flip, to see Lupin blow out a cloud of smoke. Lupin took one more drag, before dropping the cig to the floor and stamping it out.

“So,” he asked, leaning on the wall to face Sirius, “Why aren't you following me now?”

“I've got to earn Snape's trust back, or whatever.”

Sirius roughed a hand through his hair, wishing he'd bought his own pack of cigarettes instead of bumming one off an older Wizard. As weirdly hot as it was to see Lupin smoke, it didn't exactly fix his craving for a cig.

The wind picked up, lifting Lupin's shirt and messing Sirius's hair up even more. Dark clouds had begun to form in the sky, and if it started chucking it down, Sirius was going to be angry. He'd have to either drown, or find Snape and Reg and shelter with them.

“Well, if you ever want to spend some time with people that won't break your ribs, you're welcome to join-”

“-You and your tosser mates? No thanks,” Sirius interrupted.

“ _Merlin,_ someone's mad. I just wanted-”

“-I don't care what you want!” Sirius interrupted, a lot more aggressively this time. He rounded on Lupin, “I don't care about you or your dickhead mates, just leave me alone!”

Sirius shoved his shoulder into Lupin's and stormed down the alley. He was suddenly so angry at this whole situation. Why did Lupin want to be his friend? Why did he even care? Sirius was a Slytherin, they weren't ever going to get past that. Merlin, he wished he'd stayed to torture students now, it would have been great therapy.

“For someone who was supposed to be Gryffindor, you're such a coward,” Lupin called after Sirius's retreating form.

It took a moment for the words to sink in. When they did, Sirius stopped, freezing to the spot like he'd suddenly grown roots. He spun around, and stormed back to Lupin. He shoved his face in his, but Lupin didn't seem fazed. He looked back like they were discussing afternoon tea and nothing more.

“What did you say?” Sirius spat, as though daring Lupin to say it again.

“ _I said,”_ Lupin matched Sirius's tone, but with a lot more amusement, “For someone who was supposed to be Gryffindor-”

“How do you know that?” Sirius cut Lupin off for the third time, but the other boy didn't show any annoyance at the interruptions. He looked like this entire conversation was going exactly as he'd planned.

“You told me,” Lupin shrugged. He pulled away from Sirius, leaning his back against the wall and staring at the floor.

“No, I didn't,” Sirius said, moving to be in Lupin's line of sight.

“Yeah, you did. But you were so high on pain potion, I don't even think you knew I was there.”

“I... Well, I...” Sirius struggled for some kind of threat. He scrambled for something to say to make Lupin shut up, to make sure he never spilt this secret. But all he came up with was, “Please don't tell anyone.”

Lupin drew his brows together in a brief show of confusion. Then he returned to that slightly amused expression, “Who would I tell?”

“Just, please, promise me.”

At Sirius's earnest tone, Lupin softened slightly, “I'm not going to tell anyone. I didn't think it was such a big deal.”

“Yeah, well you don't know my family.”

Lupin let out a long sigh, but he didn't look like he was going to tell. A weight lifted off Sirius's shoulders. It was like holding that secret for five years had aged him ten. He felt like he could stand up straighter, like he could finally look himself in the eye. Yeah, he was supposed to be a Gryffindor, so what? Lupin was right, it wasn't a big deal.

Lupin smiled at Sirius, and despite the heavy confession he'd just given, Sirius found himself mirroring his expression. Without realising it, himself and Lupin had gotten a whole lot closer. There was the whole wall to lean on and they were leaning right next to each other. Sirius's eyes landed on Lupin's mouth, on that genuinely warm smile. He could smell the smoke on Lupin's breath, or was that his own breath?

Sirius wondered what would happen if he leaned forward. What would Remus Lupin do if Sirius kissed him? Would he push him away, would he like it? Sirius thought about it. It'd be so easy just to close the gap between them, to kiss Remus and see how he reacted.

Remus spoke before he could, “Besides, you forget that I'm good at keeping secrets.”

His eyes darted down to Sirius's mouth, and Sirius grinned. That was the sign. He wanted it as bad as Sirius did.

But Sirius still didn't move. If he'd misconstrued these signals, he'd make a huge mistake. He moved an inch forward, keeping a gap between himself and Remus but making a big enough hint to show he wasn't going to back down.

“I know your secrets,” he whispered.

“Not all of them,” Remus whispered back.

Then he moved forward, kissing Sirius tentatively, almost like he was afraid of the reaction. Sirius kissed him back, tasting his own cigarette on Remus's tongue. A hunger overtook them both. Remus grabbed a fistful of Sirius's hair, and Sirius pushed him up against the wall, steadying them both, lest they fall to the ground with passion.

Sirius never wanted this to end. He never wanted to stop feeling Remus's stubble on his own, feeling his hand grabbing at his hair, pulling him desperately closer. He wanted to kiss Remus Lupin forever, as though this entire journey had been leading up to this moment. This was the climax, right here, right now. Sirius didn't want it to stop.

But Sirius Black didn't always get what he wanted.

“Moony? Moony, where are you?”

Remus didn't react to Potter's voice. It was too far away to matter, Sirius pressed his body against Remus's, eliciting a gasp from his lips.

“Moony? You better not be smoking!” Pettigrew's voice was louder now, but still Remus didn't stop.

“Yeah, but if you are smoking, at least save one for me.”

“Prongs!”

Remus shoved Sirius away, making him stagger backwards. Their time was up. Sirius pressed a finger to his lips, still feeling Remus on him. They were both breathless and flushed. Sirius's hair was messier than ever, curling in parts and falling into his face. Remus's normally composed outfit was wrinkled, and he tried in vain to neaten it, before giving up and grinning at Sirius.

“Oh man of the moon, are you smoking behind...” Potter trailed off when he rounded the corner and caught sight of Sirius and Remus. He looked at Sirius's messy hair, at his panting breath, and said, “Black.”

“Potter,” Sirius said back, but he couldn't wipe the smirk off his face. Nothing would take it away.

“What you doing?” Pettigrew asked, too focused on unwrapping his chocolate frog to bother looking up. Maybe if he looked up, he'd know exactly what Sirius and Remus were doing.

Just like Potter did. His eyes slid from Sirius to Remus and back again. He narrowed his eyes, but didn't voice the obvious question on his face. Perhaps he didn't want to believe what he saw, perhaps the thought terrified him too much.

“Nothing,” Remus said. He cleared his throat, didn't look at Sirius, and walked to his friends, “Three Broomsticks?”

Potter was still watching Sirius when he spoke, “Yeah, I can squeeze in one butterbeer before I meet Lily.”

“Great,” Remus walked around the corner of Honeydukes, without looking back at Sirius.

Pettigrew followed, finally managing to stuff his chocolate frog in his mouth. Potter remained, staring down Sirius in the alley, as though waiting for him to admit what had just happened. Sirius looked back with a smirk. He wouldn't tell Potter what he'd just done, he wouldn't tell him what his best mate had done with the filthy Slytherin in front of him.

He silently dared Potter to ask, to hear the answer he didn't want.

Potter didn't ask. He spun on his heels, and marched back around the corner, leaving Sirius to wonder what the fuck had just happened.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius makes a mistake.

Sirius couldn't stop smiling. Even though he'd bumped into Snape and Regulus accidentally, and been forced to follow them around Hogsmeade, he couldn't wipe the grin off his face. His cheeks were beginning to hurt, but every time he remembered the taste of Remus, or the feel of his body and the scratch of his stubble, his smile grew bigger. Nothing could bring him down.

Regulus kicked an empty bottle of pumpkin juice down the street, watching it bounce along the cobblestones and land at a witch's feet. She frowned at him, but Reg made no move to pick up the litter.

He turned to Sirius and Snape, “What should we do?”

“Three Broomsticks?” Snape asked.

“NO!” Sirius shouted, making Reg and Snape halt. They both turned to face him, eyebrows drawn together. Sirius cleared his throat, “I mean, uh, it's full of Gryffindors.”

“Yeah, you're right,” Snape said, looking disgusted.

The three of them started walking, as though Sirius's outburst had been justified. In truth, it wasn't all the Gryffindors Sirius was worried about. It was just one. He wouldn't be sure how to react with Snape on one side of him, and Remus across the pub. He wasn't sure he'd be able to resist clambering over tables to kiss him again.

“How's Evans, Snape?” Reg asked.

Snape shoved his hands into his pockets, “She was flirting with me in Potions yesterday.”

Sirius barely held off his scoff. He was momentarily in Snape's good books – as in, he wasn't going to have his ribs broken immediately – but he wasn't his best friend either. He was on thin ice, and if he pointed out that Evans would never flirt with Snape in her life, he'd probably be murdered, right here in the street.

If he pointed out that Evans was more likely to passionately make out with himself, than flirt with Snape, he'd probably be turned inside out and displayed on the top of Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.

Sirius kept quiet while Snape went on about Lily’s perfume, and how she applied it only for him. Regulus seemed to believe what he was saying. But the grin on Sirius's face and his general good mood let him just walk next to his friends, half listening and half wondering what flavour ice cream Remus would order from the parlour. He seemed like a mint-chocolate kind of person.

“Wanna get ice cream?” Sirius asked.

“Sure,” Reg shrugged, and the three of them heading to the shop.

Snape was in the middle of talking about asking Evans on a date, when Regulus put both his arms out. Sirius and Snape walked into him, and Snape shut up. Sirius followed Reg's gaze to Fortescue's. His smile disappeared. Sat outside, under the candy coloured parasol, were Potter and Evans on a date. Very visibly on a date, actually. They were sitting side-by-side at the small table, and Potter was telling some story making Evans laugh. She had her hand on his on the table.

“Fuck it, let's go to the Three Broomsticks,” Sirius said, quickly, hoping to Merlin Snape hadn't seen yet. He'd rather face the temptation of Remus than see what Snape was about to do.

But Snape wasn't listening, his lip was curling, and he yanked his wand out. Sirius shoved Reg out of the way rather roughly, and rounded on Snape.

“What are you going to do? They're defenceless,” he growled.

“They have wands,” Snape said.

“Yeah! But they don't know they need to use them!” Sirius said, almost shouting but managing to hold it together.

A group of witches walked past them, glancing at Snape curiously. The street was busy, Fortescue's was busy, but Snape wasn't bothered. He was too furious.

“What are you gonna do?” Reg asked.

Sirius spun to face him, and saw the gleam in his eyes. He was excited, intrigued. Was Sirius the only sane person in Slytherin? Surely not. Surely someone else would see this for what it was – it was an unprovoked attack on two innocent people.

“What the hell is this?” Sirius demanded, “This isn't some heroic act of revenge, Snape. This is just you thinking Potter is taking your girl, but he's not. She's not yours, she doesn't want anything to do with you.”

“Shut up, Black!” Snape spat.

“You called her a mudblood, Snape,” Sirius said, still trying to appeal to the sanity Snape must have. Even he couldn't be this unhinged. “She likes Potter, for whatever reason, you need to get over it before it-”

Snape's fist connected with Sirius's nose. A cracking sound and a spurt of blood told Sirius that his nose was broken and Snape was insane. The punch hadn't been enough to knock him down, it had only shut him up, but it told him that Snape was too far gone. If Sirius let him do this – let him curse two innocent people because of his own sense of entitlement – he would lose his soul, too.

With untethered fury, Snape shoved past Sirius and raised his wand. Sirius couldn't look at his brother as he pulled out his own wand. Just as he heard Snape whisper an all too familiar curse, Sirius burst in front of him.

“PROTEGO DUO!” he shouted, thanking Merlin for the existence of Professor Kovac.

A hazy blue shield burst from Sirius's wand, deflecting the curse that Snape had shot at Potter. Potter's ribs would survive this day.

Behind him, Sirius could hear Evans and Potter calling his name, asking what was going on. But Sirius couldn't look back, he was focusing all his energy on keeping his shield up. Blood dripped into his mouth as Snape and Reg glared at him. Even his own brother disagreed with his choice.

Sirius had saved Potter and Evans, and betrayed his family. He'd betrayed everything he'd ever been taught about houses and honour and all of that bullshit. He glared back at Snape and Reg.

He was going to die. The first chance they got, they were going to torture him. He couldn't go back to his dorm. He couldn't get his stuff. He couldn't do anything, but hold up the shield and watch as his ally and brother stalked off. They hadn't fought back, because they preferred to seek revenge in under-handed, sly ways. They were cunning, those Slytherins.

A hand landed on Sirius's shoulder and he jumped, dropping his shield. He spun to find Potter and Evans staring at him with concern. Sirius looked at them, but his racing mind didn't let him say words. He couldn't think of anything except how stupid he was. He'd just stood up against a very vengeful person, who had already broken two of his ribs.

“What the fuck was that?” Potter asked, unsure whether to be angry or grateful. He settled on looking confused, keeping half his body between Sirius and Evans.

“Black? Are you okay? You look like you're gonna throw up,” Evans said, leaning around Potter.

“I... I fucked up.”

Sirius walked away. He couldn't say anything else, he couldn't do anything else. It was over. He was going to pay for his mistake. His smile was gone from his face.

“Wait, Sirius!” Potter called, but Sirius ran instead. He ran through Hogsmeade, ignoring Potter calling his name.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius resorts to sleeping in the library to stay safe.

At just before midnight, Saturday night, Sirius woke up abruptly. He jerked upright, unsticking his face from the book he'd been drooling in. He squinted into the darkness of the library, holding his breath to listen for sounds of movement. He couldn't hear anything, Filch hadn't found him yet, he might just make it through the night.

Sirius picked his wand off the table and lit it. He stared down at the book he'd fallen asleep on, the pages were open onto a spell that could shield a wizard for 24 hours. It was a complicated spell, and it required so much energy from the caster, it was hardly ever used. Sirius flicked to the next page. It showed a Patronus type spell, that involved a lot of fire.

A book fell on the table, Sirius leapt backwards knocking his chair to the floor with a clatter. With his heart thudding in his chest, Sirius spun around looking for what had thrown a book at him. When he found nothing, he peered at the book curiously.

_The Wizard and The Animagus_

Sirius reached for the book, tentatively. He pulled it towards himself, almost afraid of what might jump out when he opened it. He pulled on the cover.

“Black.”

Sirius jumped three feet in the air, and spun to aim his wand light at the source of the voice. Potter had seemingly appeared from nowhere. He was leaning casually against the bookshelf, smirking at the terror on Sirius's face. Taking a deep breath to calm his racing heart, Sirius picked his chair off the floor and sat down.

“Mischief managed,” James whispered, pressing the tip of his wand to a folded piece of parchment in his hand. Before Sirius could comment, Potter pulled out a chair and sat down. The light reflected off his glasses, hiding his eyes, as he asked, “Why are you sleeping in the library?”

He dropped a silvery cloak onto the table, placed a mug of coffee in front of Sirius, and lit the lamp on the table. He collected _The Wizard and The Animagi_ and placed it next to the strange looking cloak.

Sirius shut off his wand's light, “Everyone sleeps in the library.”

“Yeah, but not everyone sleeps here instead of their own dorm.”

“I can't go back.” Sirius shut the book he'd been reading, ignoring the way Potter looked at it. “Saving you was the biggest mistake of my life.”

Potter pushed the mug of coffee closer to Sirius, “Here.”

“Where did you get coffee from?” Sirius asked, suspicious.

“Just drink it.”

“Is it... poisoned?” Sirius asked, only half-joking.

Potter shrugged, “I don't know, maybe? Drink it and see.”

Sirius picked up the mug, blew on it to cool it down, and took a long swig. His heart didn't immediately stop and his hair didn't fall out, so he considered it fine for now. Sirius didn't care where Potter had magically found coffee, or how he'd known Sirius had been here. He'd long since learnt that there was more to Potter and his friends. Sirius could spend the rest of his life trying to learn all their secrets, and never know any of them unless they wanted him to.

Potter looked around the dark library, then turned to look back at Sirius. He had a sudden determined look on his face, he leaned forward and kept his voice low, lest they be caught.

“Look, I'm not here to thank you for today, at Hogsmeade. I'm not even here to forgive you for everything you've done in the past.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I needed a book,” Potter glanced at _The Wizard and The Animagi,_ “And I need your help.”

“What do you need _my_ help with?”

“Due to your unfortunate personality, you've known Snape for five years,” Potter pushed his glasses up his nose, “You must know his weaknesses. His fears, anything that can be used against him.”

“And say I did, what's it to you?” Sirius finished the rest of his coffee.

He kept looking at the strange cloak Potter had put on the table, it was glowing weirdly in the light. It didn't look like a normal cloak, it looked weightless, magical.

“I need to get revenge on that cowardly bastard for trying to curse me when my back was turned.” He narrowed his eyes, “ _Twice._ ”

Sirius leaned back in his chair, suddenly aware of the deal he was about to make. He had the chance to sell Snape out to Potter. Is that what he wanted? He wanted Snape to pay, but did he want Potter to get the credit for it? He deserved revenge, sure, but Sirius deserved it more.

He did know Snape's weaknesses. He knew things about Snape that no one else did, like the fact that he had an unusual fear. A fear that made Sirius very dangerous to him – not that either of them had ever acknowledged this fact.

“I'll tell you,” Sirius said, watching Potter's face light up with a grin. He opened his mouth to thank Sirius, but Sirius held up his hand to silence him. Potter immediately looked suspicious. “On one condition.”

“I'm not going to forgive you,” Potter said.

“I don't want forgiveness.”

“Than what?”

“I want in.”

“No!” Potter exclaimed loudly, too loud for this time of night. The two of them froze and glanced to the library door. Mrs. Norris didn't come bursting in, and neither did Filch.

Potter continued, much quieter, “No, absolutely not. I don't work with Slytherins.”

Sirius shrugged, leaned back in his chair casually, “Fine, then no information.”

They were at a stalemate. The Quaffle was in Potter's court, only he could choose what to do. Sirius watched the array of emotions cross Potter's face, as he debated mentally whether to let Sirius in. He went from adamant refusal, to tentative curiosity, to almost agreeing, and back again. Sirius fiddled with his wand.

Finally, Potter asked, “Why do you want to help?”

“Like you said, I've known Snape for five years. I have _a lot_ to get revenge for. I want to see that snivelling piece of shit get what he deserves.”

Potter was unaffected by the malice in Sirius's voice. He continued his interrogation, “Why now? Why not five years ago? Why not two months ago when he cursed my broom to chuck me off?”

“It's taken me five years to come to terms with a mistake I made in first year. I want to remedy it.”

Sirius was thinking about the Sorting Hat, and how he'd chosen Slytherin over Gryffindor. How he'd chosen Snape and his family over his real self. He wasn't going to let Slytherin steal his soul, he wasn't going to let Snape keep getting away with his bullying.

“What mistake?” Potter asked, suddenly intrigued.

“Am I in or not?” Sirius had accidentally spilled his secret to Remus, he wasn't about to do the same with Potter. If Remus felt the need to share, then so be it, but Sirius wasn't going to tell.

Potter considered him for a long time. So long that Sirius wondered if he was trying Legilimency.

Finally, he roughed a hand through his hair and said, “Fine. But you do what I say when I say, got it?”

“Got it.”

They shook hands, and Sirius felt a strange feeling in his chest at being allies with James Potter. For the past five years, he'd had Snape's venom poured in his ear, convincing him that Potter was this evil bully, who respected no one but himself. But that wasn't true. Yeah, Potter was big-headed, but even Sirius – who'd only seen a little bit of him – could tell that he was a good friend. He cared about Evans, Pettigrew, and Lupin.

He'd defend them with his life if he had to.

Snape wouldn't do that for Sirius. Hell, Snape wouldn't use _Aguamenti_ if Sirius was on fire.

“He's scared of dogs,” Sirius said. Maybe that was why Snape hated him so much, because Sirius's Patronus was a dog. Ever since they'd discovered that last year in DADA, Snape hadn't been the same with him.

“Dogs?” James asked, trying and failing to hold off a laugh.

“Dogs, wolves, anything like that.”

“But why?”

“I don't know,” Sirius shrugged, trying to remember the reason Snape had given for his fear, “Something about pack mentality and teeth...”

Potter was grinning from ear-to-ear, and Sirius narrowed his eyes, “Why do you look so happy? Do you have a dog?”

“No.”

“A wolf?” Sirius asked, almost afraid of the answer.

“No, but I'm good at improvising. You'll see.”

As strange as that comment was, Sirius smiled. He had put his faith in the right person, he decided. James seemed up to the task of getting revenge on Snape, and Sirius was eager to start.

“So, what now?”

James stood up, and collected his book. He dimmed the lamp and lit up his wand. With his free hand, he scooped up the silvery cloak and offered it to Sirius.

“We do our planning in the dorm,” James said at Sirius's confused look. James shook the cloak impatiently, “Just put it on, the Fat Lady won't let you in otherwise.”

Sirius accepted the cloak tentatively, “Will this make me a Gryffindor?”

James shook his head, and waved his hand impatiently. Sirius wrapped the cloak around his shoulders. James stepped forward, and pulled the cloak over Sirius's head. Still unsure of how this would help, Sirius drew his brows together.

“So, how will this get me into the Gryffindor dorm?”

James smirked, like he was hiding the biggest secret. His eyes didn't quite land on Sirius's face, he was looking just to the left of where Sirius was.

“Figure it out. _Nox_ ,” he said, dropping his wand light. He turned the lamp off completely.

Sirius lit up his wand. He gasped when the light didn't pass the cloak, he couldn't see James in the darkness. Sirius looked down at his wand, held under the cloak. It was definitely lit. But it wasn't spreading past the cloak, not even a little bit. Sirius could see through the fabric so it couldn't be that thick, could it?

It took him way too long to figure it out. Long enough that James started laughing at him. Sirius shook out of the cloak and held it in his hands. He held his wand up to the fabric, studying it. James lit his wand, grinning.

“How do you have... Where did you get...” Sirius turned to stare wide-eyed at James, “This is how you disappear, isn't it?”

“That, and with a magical map we've almost finished making,” James looked proud.

“You have an invisibility cloak.” Sirius threw the cloak back on, disappearing from James's view. “Man, Snape would kill to know this.”

“Just come on, before Wormtail eats all the pie.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius sees the common room he could have had.

Just as James had said, the Fat Lady let Sirius straight in – not that she knew, of course. James said the password, she complained about his late nights ruining her beauty sleep, but she swung open anyway. Sirius clambered through the tunnel quickly, just in case she closed before he could get in.

The Gryffindor dorm room was massively different to Slytherin's. Everything was carpet and fabric. It was full of bright and clashing colours. Books, parchment, chess boards, and packets of sweets covered tables and chairs. Sirius looked around taking it all in. The main thing that stood out for him, was how much smaller it was compared to the Slytherin common rooms.

He could hardly imagine what this room would have been like today, when all the students were inside it. There would be no room to move or walk. Nowhere to sit and be alone for a while.

There were a lot of things wrong with the Slytherin common room, but the ability to be alone in there for hours was one of Sirius's favourite things. He could find a chair in the room, and sit alone for hours on end without anyone bothering him. In the Gryffindor common room, he doubted he'd get any peace and quiet.

There was a fire burning in the fire place, and Lily Evans sat in one of the giant sofas nearby. She looked up when James came in, and judging by the shocked look on James's face, he hadn't expected her welcome.

“Uh, Evans,” James said, nodding awkwardly. He threw a nervous glance over his shoulder to where he thought Sirius was – about a metre to the right of where Sirius actually was.

“Potter.” Lily got up off the couch, almost bumping into an invisible Sirius, and approached James, “I was thinking we could continue the date that got interrupted.”

James cleared his throat. Again, he shot a glance at where he thought Sirius was. He was very uncomfortable with having this conversation listened to. Sirius couldn't help but grin.

“What did you have in mind?”

“Well...” Lily was stood right in front of James now.

She took hold of his tie, absent-mindedly playing with it while she looked up at him. Sirius was almost laughing, half out of amusement and half out of sheer awkwardness.

“I was thinking we could go for a midnight flight around the grounds.”

“I thought you hated the way I fly,” James said, smiling down at Lily, perhaps forgetting that Sirius was there.

“I didn't say you were flying.”

“I am not getting on a broom you're flying, you go slower than a... than a...” James couldn't think of a comparison.

Sirius scoffed. Lily spun to face him, pinpointing the source of the noise with sudden accuracy. James looked up with panic. Lily was staring right through the cloak into Sirius’s eyes. Could she see him? Was he about to be thrown out on his arse?

“What was that?” she asked, without looking back at James.

“What was... what?” James asked. He placed a hand on her cheek, and gently turned her face back to him. With her momentarily distracted, James motioned for Sirius to go up to the dorm behind Lily's back.

Lily shrugged, “So, what do you think? I might even let you kiss me.”

Sirius edged towards the dorm steps, keeping his eyes on Lily in case she turned back. The cloak was longer than his own, and it kept getting caught under his feet. He lifted it slightly, stepping round a cauldron that had been left on the floor.

“I can't... right... now...” James said, only half paying attention to Lily. His eyes were firmly focused on the floor near Sirius's feet.

He widened his eyes, and Sirius looked down. His feet were out of the cloak. He dropped the cloak quickly, just as Lily turned to see what James was looking at. She narrowed her eyes at the empty space Sirius stood in. She turned to James, but backed out of his grasp.

“You're acting weird,” she said, suddenly sounding extremely suspicious.

“Lily, I'm just-”

“What's going on?” Lily placed her hands on her hips. Her voice was colder than it had been, she suspected something. Her stern tone made Sirius stop his slow advance to the dorm room steps.

“There's nothing going on,” James said, trying to pull Lily back into his arms.

She didn't give in, she asked again what was happening. Sirius took this as his cue to leave before he got caught. James would come up with something, he could fake nerves if he had to.

Sirius's slow movements had taken too long, and the sooner he was out of here, the better. He walked briskly towards the dorm steps, glancing back at Lily and James who were bickering quietly. Lily insisted James was hiding something, and he tried to stammer out a coherent reply.

Sirius was too busy watching them to see the pile of books by the stairs. He tripped over them and crashed to his knees, loudly. Lily and James jumped, they spun to stare at him. He didn't have time to clamber up before Lily saw his legs hanging out of the cloak. James reached for her, but she'd already marched over to where Sirius lay in a heap. He didn't resist when she yanked the cloak off his head.

She gasped, “Black?”

“Evans,” Sirius said. He heaved himself into a sitting position at the bottom of the stairs.

Lily stared at him for so long Sirius wasn't sure if she was going to curse him or kiss him. In the end, she did neither. She spun to unleash hell on James.

“Explain to me why _he_ is in this dorm!” she demanded.

“I need his help,” James said, managing to avoid stuttering.

“With _what_?”

“With... a secret... project...” James said, grimacing even before the words were out of his mouth.

Lily stepped forward dangerously. Sirius leaned on the stairs to get a better view, smirking. This was pretty funny to watch. For once, he wasn't on the receiving end of one of Evans's token rants.

However, all at once, her annoyance disappeared. She smiled slyly at James, “Let me get this straight, you'd rather spend your Saturday night with _Sirius Black_ than with me?”

James looked at Sirius, the answer physically pained him, “Yes.”

Lily smiled even more, “You'd rather plan something with a Slytherin, than go on a date with me?”

“...Yes.” James said, sounding a little more unsure of the answer.

“I've offered to go on a midnight flight with you, where you will not only get to fly me around, but you'll probably get to kiss me, and you're refusing?”

“...Yes?” James asked, as though that wasn't the right answer to her question.

Sirius knew it was the wrong answer. You always say yes to a flying date, they're the best. Sirius wondered how much convincing Remus would need for one such date.

“Okay then,” Lily shrugged. She returned to her place on the couch, and picked up her book. She glanced over her shoulder, “Enjoy him, Black.”

“Oh, I'm sure I will,” Sirius said.

“Just come on,” James sighed, stepping over Sirius and heading up to the dorm.

Sirius cast a quick smile at Lily, which was returned rather tentatively, and clambered up the stairs after James.

At the door to the dorm room, Sirius felt a sudden wave of fear. He watched James duck through the dorm room door without a glance back. As though for the first time, Sirius realised where the hell he was. He was in the Gryffindor common room, about to enter the fifth year boys dorm. This could all be some very elaborate trap to enact revenge.

It was suspicious how easily James had found Sirius sleeping in the library. James had just happened to have an invisibility cloak available to sneak Sirius past the portrait. They'd “accidentally” bumped into Lily who had just let Sirius – an infamous Slytherin – into the dorm without a second glance. Sirius was incredibly suspicious. He pulled out his wand, and placed his hand on the door to the dorm room. He prepared for hexes, curses, traps, whatever Remus, James, and Peter could throw at Sirius.

He entered the room on guard.

No one turned to look at him, and Sirius drew his eyebrows together. Why was no one looking at him? Why had no one shot him with a stupefy curse or chucked a bottle of Confusing Concoction at his head?

Peter was digging through a box of every-flavour jelly beans, setting out the beans in two separate piles on his bedding. Sirius assumed the piles were “looks nice” and “looks gross”, that's usually how he set up his jelly bean piles. Remus and James were bickering about something quietly in the corner of the room. Apparently safe from an ambush, Sirius tucked his wand away and stepped further into the room.

Remus looked away from James, noticing Sirius for the first time. His mouth turned up in a nervous smile, which Sirius mirrored. James saw his efforts at engaging Remus had just been thwarted, so he turned to Sirius.

“Pumpkin juice or firewhisky?” James asked.

“Uh, firewhisky,” Sirius shrugged.

James clicked his fingers and pointed at him, “Right answer, you'll do well here.”

He walked off to someone's bedside table, where two bottles of firewhisky were set out – one half empty – next to six bottles of pumpkin juice and four glasses. Sirius almost smiled at the sight of the fourth glass, but held it off to stop from embarrassing himself.

“So, you're Prongs's secret weapon?” Remus asked.

“Sorry, I understood, maybe, two words in that question,” Sirius said.

Remus was a good few inches taller than Sirius, and it made him remember how he'd had to stand on his tiptoes to deepen their kiss. It made him remember the taste of his own cigarette on Remus's tongue.

Sirius realised too late that he was staring at Remus's lips. Remus had noticed. He didn't say anything though. Instead, he raised one eyebrow in a smug, almost-daring look, and walked past Sirius to sit on the bed next to Peter's. He fluffed his pillows and lay back, keeping his eyes firmly away from Sirius.

Sirius took a deep breath, wondering if he should go dunk his head in cold water to refocus his thoughts. Although, he was sure all these feelings would go away at the first mention of Snape.

James placed a glass of firewhisky in Sirius's hand, and sat on the end of Peter's bed. With a grunt of annoyance, Peter collected one of the piles of jelly beans that James had disturbed. He shuffled to sit on the edge next to James.

After a pause, everyone looked up at Sirius expectantly.

Remus patted his bed, “Come on, then. I won't bite.”

James narrowed his eyes at Remus, and Sirius felt heat creep up his neck. The way he'd said that had started a fire in Sirius's chest, and it was going to be impossible to put it out. Peter was as oblivious as always, but James was visibly disgusted.

Sirius eventually managed to get his feet moving. He sat at the end of Remus's bed, pretending his thoughts weren't running through every single activity he and Remus could get up to on this bed.

“Right,” James said, finally turning away from Remus, “now we're all here, we need to come up with a way to get back at that bastard Snape. Thanks to Sirius, we know he hates dogs and wolves, animals like that.”

Remus held up his hand, “Before we get started, I'd like to set out some rules.”

Peter and James groaned, but Remus barrelled on, unaffected, “Under no circumstances will we maim, impale, or otherwise seriously injure Severus Snape. We will not use a real wolf, a _werewolf_ , or a real dog. And – looking at you Prongs – there will be absolutely _no murder_ in this plan, got it?”

“I protest against one of them. Let's take a vote,” James turned to Peter, “Wormtail?”

“I vote murder.”

“No!” Remus snapped.

Sirius was beginning to lose track of all the nicknames, but he was mostly bemused by this conversation. He'd never seen them act like this before, they were almost professional in their planning.

“Two against one, Moony,” James shrugged.

“Actually, we have a fourth today. Sirius, what do you think?” Remus asked. Suddenly, everyone's eyes were on Sirius again.

He thought long and hard about every interaction he'd ever had with Snape. He thought of the past week alone, and he knew his answer almost immediately.

“I agree with the murder.”

“YES!” James shouted. He laughed, and grinned at Sirius. After a triumphant swig of firewhisky, he said, “To be fair, Moony, you did just ask a _Slytherin_ what he thought about murder.”

Sirius froze out of instinct, but the way James had said it hadn't been malicious. He'd just been stating a fact, as though he were telling Remus what score the Gryffindor V Ravenclaw Quidditch match had been. He relaxed. For some reason, this more than anything else had helped him feel comfortable in this strange dorm with these strange friends.

Yeah, he was a Slytherin, they all knew that. But it was no longer a giant chasm between them. It was merely a fact. Sirius felt warm, and it wasn't just because of the firewhisky.

“In hindsight, that was a bad choice,” Remus said, “But what was I supposed to do? You always get your way, Prongs!”

“I do not.”

“Yeah, no, he doesn't,” Peter chimed in.

“Yes you do, because Wormtail always agrees with everything you say.”

“What! No, he doesn't!”

“Yeah, no, I don't!”

James paused. He pushed his glasses up his nose, “That doesn't count.”

“No murder,” Remus insisted.

“Fine! Fine, we will not throw Snape off the astro-tower,” James conceded.

“And?”

“AND!” James pouted, “We will not murder Snape in any way. No matter how much he deserves it, and how much better off the world would be if he were-”

_“Prongs,_ ” Remus sighed.

“Okay, okay.” James batted away a snitch that had flown towards his head. It bounced away, flew around the room a few times, and then returned to his side like a loyal dog.

He caught it and tossed it between his hands, “So, plans, come on people.”

“We could... erm... how about we... I got nothing.” Peter stuffed a handful of jellybeans in his mouth.

“Moons?” James asked, letting the snitch go and watching it fly between the bedposts.

Sirius turned to look at Remus, who was sucking on a sugar quill. Sirius wanted to bat it out of his hand. Now was not the time for him to be seductively sucking on things. He doubted he'd get into James and Peter's good books if he pounced on their friend. Although, the smirk Remus threw at him told Sirius that he wouldn't mind it.

“Focus,” James whispered, so quietly Sirius barely heard him. He hadn't intended for anyone to hear.

“Well,” Remus said.

He sat up, leaning towards James conspiratorially. James and Peter leaned forward too, eager to hear his plan. Sirius found himself intrigued.

“I don't have a full plan. But we can use the seventh floor, since it's mostly abandoned. And there's a certain someone in this room who would make good bait...”

He glanced at Sirius. As did Peter and James. They all silently asked him if he'd be their bait.

Sirius had never wanted to be accepted by someone this badly. He wanted the three other boys in this room to like him, he craved their acceptance. He hardly knew anything about them, and the few things he had discovered over the past few days, just raised more questions. It was probably stupid, and incredibly sappy, but he felt some kind of deep connection to them. Maybe it was these three that the Sorting Hat had been talking about. It said he'd make great friends in Gryffindor, maybe they were them.

Sirius realised he'd do anything to be accepted by them, “I'm in.”

James and Remus shared a look. Sirius felt like he'd just passed some kind of test. James picked up a packet of sherbet lemons and chucked them to Sirius as a reward. Sirius got more comfortable at the end of Remus's bed. He actually felt like part of the team.

“We've got the place and the bait, what are we actually going to do?” Peter asked.

The four of them fell into quiet thought. James plucked the snitch out of the air, let it go, and caught it again before it floated too far away. Peter held up two jelly beans at a time, comparing them, before stuffing them both into his mouth regardless. Remus sucked his sugar quill, and cast suggestive looks at Sirius. For the most part, Sirius tried to focus on planning, but occasionally his gaze would be drawn to Remus and he'd take part in some silent flirting.

He thought about all the books he'd read, all the spells he knew, all the curses he'd discovered. Something clicked in Sirius's head, and he had to resist the urge to leap off the bed in excitement.

“Have you ever heard of a spell that makes your Patronus, but, with fire?” Sirius asked.

He was met with two blank stares, and one nod. Everyone looked at Peter. He swallowed his jelly beans.

“The Fyre Patronus spell. It's exactly like your Patronus but, like, way cooler.”

“So, it takes the form of your Patronus?” James asked, with a sudden wide-eyed look at Remus.

“Pretty much.” Peter shrugged. It took him a moment before he looked as excited as James and Remus. Sirius was lost.

He looked between the three of them, “What am I missing?”

“My Patronus is a wolf,” Remus said, almost embarrassed.

“Shit, that's cool,” Sirius said.

James laughed, “Yeah, it is.”

James held his glass of firewhisky up triumphantly and began to down it in one. Sirius laughed, Peter watched with amazement, and Remus rolled his eyes. When James was done, he let out a very loud burp. He started to pour himself another glass when Remus cleared his throat.

“Before you give yourself alcohol poisoning, I should point out one problem.”

James and Peter groaned again, but Remus merely took the bottle out of James's hands and topped up his own glass, and then Sirius's.

While he was pouring he said, “One wolf isn't going to scare Snape.”

“One wolf on fire,” Peter said.

“Not enough,” Remus said. He chucked the bottle to Peter, and turned to Prongs. “Remember, this is the guy that cursed you when your back was turned, and tried to do it a second time. He's been trying to sweep Lily out of your arms for years, despite her protests and-”

“You don't have to tell me how bad he is, Moony. I wanted to throw him off the astro-tower!” James interrupted.

“I know, but I think one _fire wolf_ isn't enough. We want to scare him. We want to humiliate him.”

“Whoa, you're vengeful, aren't you?” Sirius said, looking at Remus with admiration.

“Only when I have to be.”

“How about two Patronuses?” Peter offered. He added, “And they lead him to a trap or something.”

Remus pulled a face, and James shook his head. Sirius didn't know what their Patronuses were, but he imagined they weren't useful. He kept quiet about his own Patronus, unsure of how much involvement he deserved in this plan. After all, James hadn't even wanted his help originally.

“Wait, when Kovac taught us _Expecto Patronum_ last year, didn't someone have a dog Patronus?” James asked, pulling his glasses off and cleaning them on his shirt.

Still, Sirius stayed quiet.

“Hannah Silver?” Peter offered.

“No, Hannah Silver's is a fox. I remember because I thought of silver fox...” At the three blank stares thrown at him, Remus just shook his head, “It's a muggle saying... Oh nevermind.”

“Sara Martinez?” Peter asked.

“No, Sara Martinez is a shark,” James said.

“Whoa, really? That's cool,” Sirius said.

He didn't remember whose Patronus was whose. He just knew his had caused a month long fight between himself and Snape. He hadn't realised why Snape had cursed Sirius's hair to fall out until the fight was over.

“What's Snape's again?” Remus asked.

James's face darkened, he threw the snitch a little too violently, “It's a doe.”

“Like Lily's?” Remus asked.

“And yours is a stag,” Peter said. James nodded, still looking very angry.

“So, what Snape is really saying, is that he wishes he was dating you?” Sirius asked. Remus and Peter burst into laughter, and even James cracked a smile.

His dark mood drifted off, and he refocused his attention, “So, who has the dog?”

Sirius couldn't take it any longer. They could name every person in Slytherin but they'd never guess it was him. Probably because they expected him to tell them.

He sighed, “It's me.”

Remus, James, and Peter paused. They all stopped what they were doing to look at him. Remus tilted his head, James squinted at Sirius, and Peter looked at him but didn't quite make eye contact.

James clucked his tongue, “Nah, that doesn't sound right. I could've sworn it was a girl.”

“It's me though.”

“Nah, James is right, I'm sure it was a girl,” Remus said.

“What the fuck?” Sirius laughed, unsure if they were just teasing him or not, “It's literally me.”

Peter shook his head, James and Remus looked unconvinced. Sirius wasn't sure why they'd think he'd lie about this, but he stood up anyway. He kicked a box of Honeydukes sweets out of the way, clearing some space in the room for himself. He pulled out his wand and gave it a theatrical swish.

“Prepare to be proved wrong.” Sirius winked at Remus.

The firewhisky had given him a sense of confidence, he silently prayed he could get his Patronus out now. It'd be the magical equivalent of impotence if he couldn't.

He reminded himself not to think of impotence right now. Instead, he looked at Remus. He thought happy thoughts, like the way Remus said his name. Or the way he'd helped him to the hospital when he'd broken his ribs.

“ _Expecto Patronum!_ ” Sirius said.

A shaggy dog burst from his wand excitedly. It bounded around the room, catching sight of the snitch and choosing to chase that due to the lack of dementors. Remus, James, and Peter watched it with wonder, and a growing look of excitement. Sirius smiled at his Patronus. He lowered his wand and the dog, still chasing the snitch, disappeared.

“Well, shit,” James said, “I guess we have our second Patronus.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The prank is pulled off, and The Marauders gain a new member.

Sirius watched Snape and Regulus from behind a group of fourth year girls. The girls had agreed to be his shield before he'd even finished asking, and James had found it hilarious. Sirius was grateful to his giggling shield, as he peered over their heads to see Snape and Regulus on the shore of the lake. He glanced back and nodded at James, who shot him a quick salute before running off to take his place.

They'd spent almost all night perfecting the plan, and Sirius was surprised by the amount of professionalism in their group. They were running this prank like a military procedure. They were working to a very rigid schedule, which meant Sirius didn't have time to chicken out.

“Thank you girls,” Sirius said, standing up straight, “I won't forget you're great shielding skills. If you ever need anything from me-”

The girls giggled harder, and Sirius smirked. He couldn't give them _anything_ they wanted, but he would buy them chocolates or something. He copied James's earlier salute, and ran off towards Snape and Regulus. He only had minutes to bait Snape enough to be chased to the seventh floor. He needed to do something big, something that Snape could never forgive.

His answer came in the form of Lily Evans. She walked past Snape and Regulus with Marlene McKinnon, and Snape immediately started for her. He ran after her like a needy puppy, only much uglier. She turned to face him, Sirius couldn't see her face but he knew she wouldn't be glad to see him. Especially given the fact he'd almost cursed her and James unprovoked.

Sirius crept closer, hoping Regulus was too occupied with kicking rocks into the lake to notice him. Sirius readied his wand, he couldn't hear what Snape was saying but it looked like a bad attempt at flirting. Marlene caught sight of Sirius and he pressed his finger to his lip to quiet her. She saw his outstretched wand, and nodded.

Another few steps placed Snape in the perfect position for Sirius. He looked around for any Professors that might catch him, he knew a few that would jump at the chance to expel him. When he was sure the coast was clear, he flicked his wand, and the trip jinx caught Snape right in the stomach. He hadn't been moving, but the jinx made him stumble backwards, losing his footing. He slipped across the ground, Regulus moved to catch him, but Snape was too far gone. He landed in the lake with a splash, dragging Regulus in with him, and Lily spun to find who had cast the spell.

She pursed her lips at him in disapproval, but didn't make any attempt at giving him detention or even helping Snape out of the lake. He winked at her, and she just shook her head, probably knowing her boyfriend had played a part in this plan. She linked arms with Marlene – who was crying with laughter – and walked away.

Sirius ran to the lake, and offered his hands to Regulus and Snape, who ignored it. They splashed in the water, desperate to stay afloat. Sirius shrugged and pulled his hand away.

“Sorry Snape, Reg, I tripped,” Sirius said, barely holding his laughter.

“I'll kill you for this, Black,” Snape snarled. He finally made purchase on the lake edge, and began to heave himself out.

“Catch me first,” Sirius said.

He jogged away, making sure Snape could still see him. He needed Snape to chase him now, and not wait for revenge later. He glanced over his shoulder to see Snape use Regulus's head to help himself out fully. He flopped onto land like a fish, and crawled on his knees away from the water.

“Come on, Snivellus,” Sirius called.

Snape's face darkened at the sound of his cruel nickname. He waved his wand at Sirius, forcing him to leap to the side to avoid more broken ribs. Snape scrambled to his feet, and lumbered towards Sirius like a drunken troll. His wet robes were weighing him down, so Sirius ran slower, making sure to stay in Snape's sight.

Curses missed his head by inches, whizzing past him and crashing into the castle walls. Sirius ran into the castle, heading for the Grand Staircase. He slipped up the steps, almost losing his footing and landing on his arse. Behind him, students shouted as Snape dripped water across the floor. Sirius ran faster as Snape closed the distance between them.

Sirius pounded up the stairs, leaping onto landings just as the staircase changed. Snape was running up a different way to him, trying to cut him off, and Sirius had to get creative in his run up to the seventh floor. Flitwick came out to shout at them, but Sirius was already a floor above by then. Snape almost caught him on the landing of the sixth floor, but another trip jinx slowed him enough for Sirius to run the last staircase up to the seventh floor.

Sirius's chest was beginning to ache, his legs were turning to lead. He'd never ran for this long, and it made him want to quit smoking. But then he remembered watching Remus steal his cigarette, and decided that weak lungs were worth it.

The whizzing sound of a curse followed him down the corridor. Sirius ducked and the red sparks crackled against the wall. He sighed in relief, and glanced down to see Snape running towards him. He was gaining ground quickly, dripping seaweed onto the corridor floor. Filch would commit mass murder tonight.

Sirius continued running. The end of the corridor was fast approaching. Sirius threw a quick glance over his shoulder at Snape, just in time to dodge another curse sent his way. Snape looked angry.

Well, angry wasn't the word, violent and enraged, probably suited him better.

Water flew off his hair as he chased Sirius, and his cloak dragged across the floor. He was further back than Sirius had thought. Sirius faced forward again, and skidded around the final corner.

He leapt into the nearest alcove, and a ghostly fabric was launched over his head. Remus appeared in front of him, grinning.

“Is he mad?” he asked.

“He's furious,” Sirius laughed.

Remus snickered, and placed his hands on Sirius's shoulders to switch places with him. Sirius ignored the heat from Remus's hands as best he could, and listened for Snape's footsteps. Sirius watched Remus's slight shoulders, as he positioned his wand outside of the cloak. If anyone were to walk past, they'd see a floating wand.

Snape sprinted past, looking around for Sirius, and Sirius waited for the Patronus to burst from Remus's wand.

Seconds passed, and nothing had happened.

“Uh, Remus, anytime now,” Sirius whispered, sounding impatient.

He didn't want to push Remus, but they were quickly running out of time. Snape's footsteps were still audible, but they were getting fainter and fainter. If he wasn't chased by the Patronuses, he might not get where he needed to be.

“Shut up, I need to concentrate,” Remus hissed back, shutting his eyes.

Sirius looked between Remus and Snape, the gap between them was growing with every passing second. If Remus couldn't concentrate, couldn't think happy enough thoughts, then they'd have failed. They wouldn't get their revenge on Snape.

Sirius rocked back on his heels. If this part of the plan failed, James and Peter wouldn't be able to complete the next part, and Sirius would have thrown Snape into the lake for no reason. He'd jump at the chance to do it again, it probably wouldn't be as easy a second time though.

Remus's wand was aimed at Snape's quickly retreating form. He stepped out of the alcove, dragging Sirius with him, to keep Snape in sight. Sirius thought quickly. He had to do something.

Sirius stepped in front of Remus, careful not to nudge his wand off course. Remus had his eyes shut in concentration. Sirius didn't think about it as he leaned up and dragged Remus into a kiss. There was a gasp against his lips, and Remus grabbed Sirius's waist with his free hand. Sirius forgot about Snape, as Remus kissed him deeply.

He sighed when Remus pulled away, and whispered, “ _Expecto ignis._ ”

Heat appeared behind Sirius and he spun to see a wolf made of flame in the corridor. Snape had caught sight of it, and his eyes widened. The wolf stepped forward threateningly, his muzzle raised in a silent growl. Curls of flame licked across the wolf’s form, but its paws didn’t singe the floor.

Snape stepped back, the wolf stepped forward. Snape was frozen in fear, as they'd expected, and without Sirius's Patronus he might not run.

Sirius pushed his wand out of the cloak behind the wolf. He whispered the spell, and his own Patronus burst forth, flame dancing across its figure. It bounded around the wolf, running in circles as the wolf prowled forward. Remus laughed softly, and Sirius felt his cheeks warm up as his dog refused to leave the wolf alone.

Snape took another step backwards, and the dog set its sights on him. Its hackles raised, and it stretched its muzzle back to reveal its teeth. The dog and wolf prowled forward. All at once they leapt into a sprint and Snape scrabbled across the floor to get out. Remus and Sirius threw the cloak off and chased their Patronuses.

They stopped when Snape was stood on the X they'd drawn on the floor. They waved their wands and the wolf and dog disappeared. Snape froze when he caught sight of them. He looked angrier than before, he looked ready to rip them to pieces with his bare hands. Before he could fire a single curse at them, Peter stepped out from an alcove. With shaking hands, he launched a bucket of red slime at Snape as soon as he spun to face him.

Before Snape could figure out what had happened, James stepped out from another alcove and threw a bucket of gold glitter and feathers over Snape. Sirius and Remus choked on their laughter. Snape rounded on James and lunged for him, but James danced out of the way. He was laughing as he dodged Snape's hands a second time.

Snape kept after him, and James lead him away. He dodged another lunge, and threw open a door at the end of the corridor with his wand. Students poured out, confused and waiting to see what prank the Marauders had been so eager to share.

They took in the trail of slime and glitter that lead to Snape, and burst into laughter. James ran around Snape, who had frozen in humiliation, and caught Sirius.

Gold glitter littered his face, “Did you see that?”

“Best prank you've ever done,” Sirius said.

James dragged him into a rough hug, “Mate, you did it, too.”

Remus grabbed their collars, “C'mon, before McGonagall gets here.”

The four of them ran down the corridor, slipping in excess slime, and disappearing onto the Grand Staircase. The laughter and jeers of the crowd faded when they stepped through the doorway. They caught sight of McGonagall following a glowering Filch towards them, and ran in the opposite direction.

* * *

That evening, in the Gryffindor dorm, Sirius laughed as James stood on the bed and almost fell. The four of them had made it through the rest of the day without being caught, but the prank had their names written all over it and McGonagall would figure it out soon – if she hadn’t already.

James steadied himself and switched his drink to the other hand, licking the spilt firewhisky off his fingers. He held his glass up to them. Remus rolled his eyes, Peter batted the snitch away from his head, and Sirius watched James with admiration.

“A toast to Sirius Black, who I haven't fully forgiven yet,” he couldn't keep the smile off his face long enough for him to seem angry, “but who did bring this prank together nicely.”

“To Sirius!” Remus called, throwing his glass of firewhisky back.

“I wasn't done,” James said.

“Yeah, but it was dragging on,” Remus said, waving his hand dismissively.

James sat back down on his bed, pouting. Sirius laughed at his face. He moved from the end of Remus's bed, to perch next to James. He patted James's shoulder.

“I liked the speech, mate,” he said.

“Thanks, Sirius. At least there's one person who appreciates my wit in this dorm,” James said.

“I appreciate it,” Peter said.

“Thanks Wormtail,” James said.

He stood up and grabbed his broom from where it leaned at the end of his bed. He patted Remus on the shoulder, and Remus smiled at him. James threw a salute at Peter, who saluted back and stuffed a pumpkin pie into his mouth whole. James turned to Sirius and grinned.

“Seriously, Sirius,” he grinned wider at his pun, and Remus rolled his eyes again, “Nice work today.”

Sirius felt simultaneously proud at James's words, and embarrassed by the heat that flooded his chest. He nodded in response, and James clicked his finger and pointed at the door.

“I'm going to go make up for my absence to the beautiful Lily Evans. And Moony,” he glanced at Remus, who arched an eyebrow in question, “Don't do anything I wouldn't do. Or anything I would do... Or anything, at all. Don't do anything, okay?”

“Can't promise,” Remus said.

James sighed, and lifted up his broom. He left the dorm, with one final glance between Sirius and Remus. Sirius knew exactly what James was talking about, and he moved back to Remus's bed as soon as he was gone. Peter didn't look up from the pile of pies he'd formed. Remus leaned back on his pillows, and watched as Sirius moved closer.

“Can't promise, huh?” Sirius said, softly.

“I agree that the prank wouldn't have worked without you.” Remus sat up and brought his face to Sirius's. He glanced down at Sirius's lips and back up to his eyes, “You deserve a reward.”

Sirius closed the gap between them. Remus tasted like firewhisky, and he smiled against his mouth. Sirius pushed Remus back against the pillows. He felt Remus's fingers dip into his trouser pocket and pull out his wand. He used Sirius's wand to shut the curtains around his bed. Sirius took his wand out of his hand and tossed it away. He wrapped his fingers between Remus's and pinned his hand above his head.

Peter hadn't even looked up from his pies, and he didn't hear the giggling and kissing coming from Remus's bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not the last chapter.


	10. Epilogue

Three Months Later

 

Rough hands shook Sirius awake. He squinted into the darkness of the Gryffindor dorm. A shadowed figure stood above him, shaking him rather violently. Sirius smacked the hands away and shuffled up the bed, trying to get a better look at who was attacking him. He was still half asleep and his brain wasn’t processing anything but fear.

In the barely lit room, he could see three figures stood around his bed. One was tall and thin, wearing a badly made wolf mask. The mask was stuck in a snarl. Another was tall and well built, a papery stag mask was over his face, complete with extravagant antlers. The final one was small and rounded, wearing a rat mask. Sirius felt his tense shoulders relax. He rubbed his eyes angrily.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

“Get out of bed,” James ordered, his voice muffled behind his mask. He was stood closest to Sirius, his hands still outstretched from when he'd shaken him awake.

“Why?” Sirius said.

He leaned heavily against the headboard of his bed. He was so tired, he felt like he had barely been asleep for an hour. They'd stayed up late last night, planning their newest prank. They were going to levitate the dinner tables during breakfast. McGonagall was going to string them up by their thumbs, but it’d be worth it. The prank was going to take a lot of concentration, and therefore, Sirius needed sleep.

“Get out of bed,” Remus said.

The three of them stood still for another few seconds, before turning as one and walking towards the dorm door. They left in silence. Sirius's eyes were wide with fear and confusion. In his sleepy state, he was half-convinced the three of them had been possessed, and were actually leading him to his death.

Maybe he trusted them too much, because despite the fear he felt, he still got out of bed. The air in the dorm was freezing; the fire had died out a long time ago. He stuck his feet in his trainers, not bothering to change out of his sleep clothes, and hung his cloak over his shoulders lazily. He sat on his bed for a few seconds longer, trying to muster some energy.

He had his own bed now. One night, after sleeping in Remus's bed for a few weeks, a fourth bed had just appeared in the dorm. None of them had questioned this appearance, they had just accepted it. Sirius had guessed it was Dumbledore granting him permission to be an honorary Gryffindor. Or just allowing him to sleep somewhere safer than the Slytherin dorm room.

After suffering through the severe punishments McGonagall gave them for their treatment of Snape, the four boys had come across Slughorn and Dumbledore holding a quiet meeting in the dungeons. They hadn’t managed to hear anything before Peter started sneezing loud enough to draw attention to them, and they had to run before McGonagall could dole out another detention.

Despite whatever was discussed in that meeting, Sirius still wore his green tie, and still attended classes with the Slytherins – which mostly consisted of insults and paper planes being thrown at him. But other than that he was a Gryffindor. The Gryffindors just sort of accepted him. It hadn't been that way at first, and he wasn't naïve enough to think they all accepted him, but it was good enough for Sirius. Most of them liked him, smiling at him when he entered the common room with Remus, or affectionately rolling their eyes when him and James duelled over the last pumpkin juice.

Sirius, some alertness returning to his brain, stood up and walked towards the dorm door. He opened the door slowly, just in case one of his friends was waiting to tackle him, while the other two dragged him towards their trap. When nothing happened, and no one appeared, Sirius walked down the stairs to the common room.

The fireplace was the only source of light in the common room. The three of them were sat on the large sofa, whispering. They immediately fell silent when he walked in. Sirius was awake enough to know something wasn't quite right here. He stared down his friends.

In what he hoped was an intimidating voice, he asked, “What is going on?”

The three of them shared a look. Without saying anything, they rose to their feet and walked towards the common room door. They were all fully dressed, with scarfs and gloves on. This fact, for some reason, worried Sirius more than anything else. Were they going on a trip? Were they going to kill him outside?

“I won't follow you until you tell me what’s happening,” Sirius watched them go, his feet planted firmly to the ground.

No reply came and despite himself, Sirius jogged to catch up to them. They were halfway down the first flight of stairs when he caught sight of them again. They’d lit their wands to guide themselves. He pushed between James and Remus and looked at them both.

“Seriously, this isn't funny. It's the middle of the night and you three are acting weirder than Filch in frilly panties, so come on, tell me what’s happening.”

They all stopped then and looked at him. Sirius looked at each of them individually. He had never been so confused in his life. Behind their masks, he could only see their eyes, sparkling in their wandlight. James was the first to go, his shoulders trembling as he tried to keep his laughter in. He burst into laughter, and Remus and Peter followed quickly. All three of them clutched their stomachs as they laughed at his expense.

Sirius folded his arms across his chest angrily. They laughed for a long time. Sirius glanced around to make sure there were no prefects or teachers coming to see what all the noise was. He may be an honorary Gryffindor, but some prefects still insisted on sending him back to Slytherin.

James grabbed Sirius's shoulder, and wiped a tear from his eye, “You should have... seen your face.”

Sirius shook away from his hand and shoved away from them. He stormed back towards the dorm. Why had they woken him up for this? He could just kill them! He would have his revenge soon. He was already planning it. Maybe a high voice potion in their morning pumpkin juices.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Remus called. He chased after Sirius and caught his hand. He shoved his mask up onto his head, “We really do have something to show you.”

“The masks were Prongs's idea,” Peter said, pushing his up too.

“It's true, I couldn't resist messing with you,” James said, his own mask was pushed up and the antlers protruded from the back of his head, just waiting to take someone's eye out.

He jogged over to Sirius and wrapped his arm around his shoulders. He lead him down the grand staircase, and the four of them left the castle. When they stepped out onto the grounds, Sirius wished he'd brought his scarf and gloves too. Remus pressed closer to him, James shivered, and Peter pulled his cloak tighter.

They walked for a little longer, before the three of them stopped abruptly, almost making Sirius trip over his own feet. James and Remus turned to face him, standing directly in front of him.

“We're almost there,” James said.

Sirius strained to see around them to their destination. He stumbled to the left and caught sight of the giant tree that lived on the grounds. It's branches were moving slowly, as though it had sensed them coming and was waiting to attack.

“You wanted to show me the Whomping Willow?” Sirius asked.

James and Remus shared a look, smiling to themselves, and then turned back to face the Whomping Willow. The tree had seemingly frozen, and wordlessly, James and Remus set off walking towards it. It was only then that Sirius realised Peter was missing. He looked around and couldn't see him anywhere. James and Remus were standing under the tree now, and it wasn't swinging it's branches to attack them.

There were so many questions spinning through Sirius's mind. Why wasn't the tree attacking them? Why were they even going to the tree in the first place? Where was Peter? What the fuck was going on?

Instead of asking any of these questions, he settled for walking towards them when they gestured him over. James kicked dirt away from the base of the tree, revealing a smallish tunnel.

He pointed down to it, “You first.”

“Are you crazy? I'm not going in there,” Sirius said.

James rolled his eyes, “Either get in, or stay here and wait for the tree to wake up. Your choice.”

Without waiting for Sirius's decision, James bent down and crawled into the tunnel. Sirius stood gaping at the tunnel. Remus walked past him and followed James down.

Sirius was now stood alone under the Whomping Willow. He glanced around the empty grounds. There was no moon in the sky, everything was dark and silent. The tree gave a shudder. Sirius, spurred on by his need to avoid being murdered by a tree, crouched down and crawled through the tunnel two of his friends had disappeared into.

It was dirty and cold in the tunnel. Sirius couldn't see much, as he crawled deeper, so he had to use his hands to find his way. It was simple enough to follow the tunnel all the way to the end. The tunnel stretched on and on, and halfway there Sirius realised this was another secret entrance his friends knew about. He stopped crawling and sighed at how long it had taken him to realise this.

When he reached the end of the tunnel, he climbed out into a room. A very dusty, trashed room. All of the furniture was smashed and broken in some way. The wallpaper was peeling from the walls, and the windows were boarded up. Once again, Sirius's mind automatically assumed he was being lead to his death. Maybe this was a side effect of growing up with Slytherins all his life.

On the broken, ripped sofa, sat his friends. All three of them. Sirius stepped towards them, “How did Peter get here?”

“Through the tunnel,” Peter said simply.

“But-”

“Sirius, we need to talk,” Remus said.

“Are you all breaking up with me?” Sirius asked, only half joking.

Remus gestured to the armchair opposite the sofa. The was a lack of dust behind the chair, which told Sirius it had been moved there recently. He sat down obediently, his fingers finding one of the rips in the fabric, and beginning to nervously pull at it.

A small, niggling voice told him they hated him. They didn't want to be his friend anymore. The last three months had been a test to see if he was compatible with them, and he'd failed. Sirius ripped the hole in the arm of the chair, making it bigger.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the three of them shuffle and look at each other. Sirius waited for one of them to say something. James elbowed Remus.

“Fine, okay, uh...” Remus stammered. He paused and silence filled the room. Sirius had now resorted to pulling the little remaining stuffing from the chair, to avoid looking at any of them. Remus seemed to have an idea, and he moved to the edge of his seat, “You know like my nickname is Moony?”

Sirius wasn't expecting that. He glanced up at Remus, “Yeah.”

Remus looked nervous too, though Sirius didn't know why. He was pulling on his scarf, and gnawing on his bottom lip.

He released his lip from his teeth and continued, “I'm called Moony, because, uh, I'm well, uh, I'm, uh.”

He paused, took a deep breath, and steeled himself. Then his words tumbled out so fast, they blurred into one word, “Imawerewolf.”

Sirius froze. He wanted to laugh, but something on Remus's face stopped him. James and Peter were looking at him too. Peter was apprehensive, and James looked like he was merely observing, like he knew how Sirius would react. Remus was appealing to Sirius, leaning forward to see his reaction.

Sirius blinked a few times, as discreetly as he could, he pinched his arm. When it stung he knew he was awake. He became aware of how long he'd sat in silence, how long they'd waited for a reply.

“You're a werewolf. Uh, that makes sense...”

As soon as Sirius said the words, he realised it did. It all made perfect sense. Maybe he'd never come to conclusion on his own, but now that he'd been told, it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The scars, the nickname, the missed classes every month, once a month. That time they'd showed up to Kovac's class in varying states of disarray. He'd been with them for three months, of course he'd noticed them disappearing one night each month without inviting him. He hadn't asked because he hadn't felt like he should.

Like a firework going off inside his head, Sirius realised Snape had been right. Snape had guessed the three of them had a secret. Snape had been right.

Remus Lupin was a werewolf.

Sirius laughed. He couldn't help it. It all bubbled up inside him, the fear and tension he'd felt when they lead him to the tree. The thought that maybe they were ditching him. The fact that _Snape had been right_. All of it bubbled over, until Sirius was laughing so hard he could hardly breathe.

“Is he okay?” James whispered, which only spurred Sirius on.

He fell backwards against the armchair and clutched at his aching stomach. It was so hard to believe, but he believed it. It was crazy enough to make sense.

Slowly, Sirius felt himself calm down, until he was hardly laughing anymore. He wiped his eyes, and sighed, “Why are we here?”

“This is where I transform,” Remus said, looking wide-eyed.

He understood Remus's look, it was probably how Sirius had looked on the staircase, when the three of them had been laughing uncontrollably.

“But wait, if that explains your nickname. How does that explain Prongs? And Wormtail?”

James and Peter shared a glance. They rose to their feet. James winked at Sirius, and Sirius leaned forward eager to see whatever they were about to show him. Then before his eyes the two of them morphed. It happened so smoothly, so seamlessly, Sirius barely had time to register what was happening, before a full grown stag stood before him.

Sirius gaped. He probably looked like a fool, but he couldn't help it. It wasn't everyday one of your best friends became a stag. Sirius looked over to see what Peter had become, and found nothing, just empty space. He looked back to James, and the stag bowed it's head at him.

Something scratched at his ankle, and Sirius looked down to see a rat clambering up his leg. Sirius jerked away from the creature and looked up at Remus, bewildered.

Remus stifled his laughter, “They're animagi.”

“Animagi.” Sirius repeated, as Peter – the rat, Wormtail – hopped onto the arm of the chair.

His brain wasn't working, and the word animagi took a long time to register. By the time it did, James had transformed back to a human, still fully dressed, and Peter had hopped off the armchair to do the same. He too reappeared fully dressed and took his seat back on the sofa.

This explained the masks. They'd worn themselves as masks. Sirius laughed again, because it was so obvious now he knew the answer.

“Okay, so what you're telling me...” Sirius paused to gather his thoughts, “Is that I have befriended a werewolf, a stag, and a rat.”

Three voices said yes simultaneously. Sirius nodded slowly, waiting for his mind to catch up. “Also, that I am dating a werewolf.”

“Yeah, you're dating a werewolf,” Remus said, looking nervous again.

He seemed to waiting for Sirius's reaction. They all did. As though expecting him to laugh, or start a fire, or run away. They didn't really know what to expect. Even James looked unsure now. He was leaning towards Remus almost defensively, like he thought Sirius would attack.

“Cool,” Sirius said.

“Wait, what?” Peter asked.

“You just got told that your boyfriend is a werewolf, and your other two best friends are animals. And all you say is cool?” Remus looked perplexed. 

“Well, it is cool. It's crazy fucking cool. I can't believe this!” Sirius exclaimed, “You're a werewolf, that's just so... that's so fucking...”

“Cool?” James offered with a smirk, relaxing into his seat.

“Yeah!” Sirius said, grinning like an idiot, “And you're a freaking stag! And you're a rat! What the hell!”

The three of them laughed slightly, the tension draining away from them. Sirius couldn't get over it.

“You have to teach me to be an animagus!” Sirius said, jumping to his feet in excitement.

The idea of being able transform into an animal whenever he wanted was amazing. He could picture it now, the four of them roaming the grounds on the night of a full moon; best friends.

James stood and pulled him into a tight hug. Peter and Remus joined too, and Sirius felt like he was being crushed, but in a good way. When they all let him go, James looked smug. He rooted through his pockets for a second, and pulled something out.

“To be an animagus, you have to carry a mandrake leaf in your mouth for an entire month. No better time to start than now, is there?” He offered the leaf to Sirius, and Sirius grimaced.

As he stuffed the horrible tasting leaf into his mouth, much to the amusement of his friends, he couldn't help but grin. Not only had they trusted him enough to tell him their biggest secret, but James had already had the leaf in his pocket. James had known how he'd react, and that was solace enough, as the leaf made his tongue tingle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't help getting all sappy with my boys.   
> I know that Sirius might not have been allowed a bed in the Gryffindor dorm, but I decided to twist canon until it made sense. Because where else was he going to stay? He deserved to have a home.


End file.
